


One Night, One Time is Not Enough

by TheParalyzingTruth



Category: Deadpool - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Baking, Bucky Barnes Needs a Hug, Everyone loves Peter, Fluff, How Do I Tag, M/M, Panic Attacks, Peter Parker-centric, Peter can dance, Peter has magic, Smart!Peter, Sorry Not Sorry, Time Travel, and do basically everything, and sing, eidetic memory, out of character everyone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-15
Updated: 2018-06-15
Packaged: 2019-05-23 17:03:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 24,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14938338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheParalyzingTruth/pseuds/TheParalyzingTruth
Summary: “Do you think it’s about the magic?”“No, he just wants another one of those cupcakes you gave him. Of course it’s about the magic!"----Peter might be a mage. And he might know how to travel in time.But that doesn't mean he'll do anything stupid with it, right?





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, before you start reading this, a short announcement.
> 
> This was originally going to be a crossover, but I decided 14k words in that that was a bad idea. SO if anything seems off, It's because I had a different main character while writing more than half of this.
> 
> If you see anything, if it doesn't make sense, or even if there's just a mistake, LET ME KNOW. This hasn't been read by anyone but me, so, yeah.

Peter Parker was a sidekick. 

He grew up in a small town in New York near Lake Ontario with his Aunt May, and they were as close as two people could be. They baked cookies on weekends, and May volunteered to help Peter with his homework, even when she knew he didn’t need it. 

Peter had accepted he was destined for being a sidekick early in life, when he became friends with Johnny. They did everything together, and often what they did was chosen by Johnny, and Peter was okay with that. As the two grew up together, Peter found out a few things about himself. The first was that he had too much potential. His mind worked differently, and he progressed faster than a lot of other kids. His Aunt called it an Eidetic memory, where he remembered every detail about what was around him. Whether it was spoken, a smell, sight, touch, or even sometimes taste, he could remember it. It was mostly spoken and seen, but strong memories had other senses too.

He didn’t just have his memory, though. He could quickly assess a situation and find out the best course of action, he could solve complicated math equations in his head, he could read people as if their emotions were said out loud. The second thing he found out was that he didn't like it when people knew the first.

When teachers began to realize the potential of his mind, they wanted to put him in special classes, teach him as an individual rather than in a group. Peter knew automatically that he didn't want that, he wanted to be just like everyone else. So he started to goof off, not so his work, not try. Teachers looked at him as failed potential, and they stopped caring that he was just like any other student. Peter kept up good grades, but did the bare minimum to get A’s. Only Aunt May truly knew what he was capable of. He acted forgetful, both to keep up that he was normal and to try to make friends.

In his free time, Peter would read. He would read everything from textbooks, to fantasy, to historical fiction. Summers were spent hidden in the back corner of the library, and once he could get his own computer, hours were spent reading articles about culture and advancements in technology. He did puzzles and brain teasers, logic puzzles and riddles. Aunt May suggested learning more physical traits during his freshman year of high school, and after a few self defense classes and trips to the shooting range he was hooked. Anything and everything there was to learn Peter tried. 

Then, Johnny became a Mutant, and everything started to change. 

The hours he spent in classic literature changed into time with his mind focused on mutant abilities. He read scientific papers on radioactive materials cover to cover, to absorb all of information he had. He annoyed Harry into looking through any books he still had from the Osborn library, and begged Professor Xavier to look through books on mutants. Xavier even mentioned once that it was possible that Peter himself may be a mutant, and the focus of the boy’s research was suddenly flipped to how his powers might work. The Professor had said training was the key factor, and once he found out he did, in fact, have some sort of ability, any spare time he might have had became devoted to practicing his power. At first, nothing much happened. But by senior year, his slight breezes morphed into flickering flames held in his palms and levitating multiple books to make connections of red light from book to book like yarn. Then he decided to talk to Xavier, seeing if the man could help improve what he knew.

\----

Peter walked into the library with the one of his books about mutant power under his arm. He knocked on the door to the back room and called out.

“Hey Professor? I need to ask you something, can I come back there?” Peter asked, not wanting to intrude. Xavier came into the front, and looked almost surprised that it was Peter who was there. 

“Of course, what is it, Peter?” 

The boy grinned. “Well, turns out you were right, and I am a mutant. I’ve been practicing with my power, and I think I'm getting pretty good. I want to know if you know any other mutants like me I could visit over the summer, or even just someone I could talk to on the phone.” He started, and when Xavier made no move to speak, he continued. 

“See, I don't know how much I can do, and while I'm okay continuing to figure it out myself, the books I have don't really help all that much, what I can do is too different.” When he stopped talking, Xavier gestured for him to follow into the back room.

“Can I see what you can do, Peter? You say you've been practicing, I want to know as much as I can before telling you who to go see.” He said, looking a bit wary, if Peter thought that that was a feeling the professor ever felt. Peter felt the power under his skin ripple, and he opened the container of sugar Xavier had on his desk, likely to put in his coffee. He barely had to try at all to manipulate the sugar into a perfect circle around Xavier. When Xavier made no move to ask anymore questions or even comment on it, he moved the majority of the sugar back into the jar before creating shapes in the air, a ball, a cat, and finally a dragon, that flew around the room and then perched on Peter outstretched hand and breathing a plume of fire at the professor. 

“I can't do all the things I want to do because I don't know if it’s even possible, so I want to visit other people like me and see what they can do.” Peter told Xavier, but the man just stared at him, his lips slightly parted. Peter looked around, seeing the sugar dragon continue to fly around the room, beating its intricate wings and snaking around the room. Every once and a while, a swirling portal like opening would appear, and the dragon would disappear into it for a moment before coming back out at a different spot of the room. Peter stopped the dragon, moving the sugar back into the jar, and turned back to Xavier, who had yet to say a word. 

“What? Did I do something wrong?” He questioned, and it seemed to snap Xavier out of whatever trance he was in. The professor stared at him, and finally spoke.

“And you can do all of those things and more?” He asked, and Peter shook his head in confirmation. “That should be impossible, mutants always have a focused power, nothing all over the place like that. If I had to guess, you are not a mutant…” he trailed off, looking thoughtful. He turned, reaching for a book. Peter but his lip, wondering what would come next. 

Xavier sighed, and turned again to face Peter. “I can't help you. And I would advise you don't continue to practice whatever that is.” He said, tone short and strained. Peter's mouth dropped open. 

“What?! I'm good at this! I could help!” He spluttered. “I'm going to keep practicing, maybe then you'll see this is good for me, for the group.” Xavier inhaled sharply. “Peter, if you continue I will have no choice but to make sure that you will not become a threat.” 

Peter stopped breathing.

“You- you would kill me?” He breathes softly. He had heard Xavier say that, but to mutants who had gone crazy, or to super villains, never to him. The man looked at him, eyes blank with a tinge of power to them. 

“I would do what I have to to keep this town safe from harm.” He responded blandly, voice devoid of emotion. Peter took a shakeup step backwards.

He had to leave, he couldn't stay here.

So that's what he did.


	2. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this really fast, so who knows how many mistakes there are.
> 
> Thanks for reading!

When Peter left, he didn’t quite know where he was going. 

He left in a hurry, packing only what he needed. He threw together a bag full of clothes, his phone, computer and chargers, his passport, and got together as much money as he could without taking too much from his aunt. Before he knew what he was doing, he was in his car and on the road. 

What came next was trial and error. Peter still needed to find someone to train him, to tell him what he was supposed to do. He didn’t know where to start, it’s not like he could just google it, ‘where can I learn how to train my weird magic power?’. He needed some way to figure it out, but for now, he just needed to get away. He started north, up to Canada, and once over the border, he kept going. Once he was too tired to keep driving, he found a small motel and passed out the moment he got into his room.

In the morning, he racked his brain to think of what he could do. He was alone in Canada, with only his magic to keep him company. Wait. He thought. That’s it. He had actual magic, he could figure something out. He spent the next hour thinking of ways his magic could help him, and he decided to try to track other magic. He figured it would be his best shot, if he could find someone with strong magic, they could help him. Now, all he had to do was figure out how to track magic.

\----

“Yes!”

Peter had been trying without success to find another magic user for three days in his hotel room. He had come close once, but couldn’t quite figure out where it was coming from. However, this time, he got it right. He could feel a pull in the direct of the strongest magic user within a wide radius. He immediately shot up from his spot on the floor and began packing his bags. He was going to find whoever it was and make them help him. After cleaning up his room, he ran down to his car and followed the pull.

After an hour of driving on back roads, he couldn’t go any further. The pull led him directly into the woods, where he couldn’t go in a car. So, he got out and made sure any necessities were in a small backpack he could carry with him. He locked the car, and started into the forest.

It was weirdly dark in the trees. Peter knew that the leaves would be blocking some light, but it had gotten to where he had conjured up a few balls of glowing light to make sure he didn’t trip on any rocks or branches. He had been walking for a while, and the pull kept getting stronger. He didn’t know how long it would take him to reach his destination, and he was about to give up when he reached a clearing in the trees.

Immediately, it got brighter, so Peter put out his lights. As he walked forward, a small cottage came into view. It was covered in moss and ivy, looking as if it had been standing there for many years with no one to tend to it. But, the pull was leading him straight to the house, so there had to be someone inside. He walked up to the door, and knocked lightly.

“Fuck off, Ryan!”

The voice came from inside, and seemed quite agitated. Peter was confused, and decided to knock again. When he did, the voice sounded again.

“I know you aren’t sorry about my vase, you asshole! Go away!”

Peter had no idea what was happening, and didn’t know how to proceed. He didn’t really want to knock again, in fear of angering the person inside, but he didn’t know how to show that he wasn’t ‘Ryan’. He sighed, and knocked a third time.

“I swear to the heavens, Ryan, I will hurt yo-”

The door flung open to a young woman. When she saw Peter, she cut herself off, and cocked her head in surprise at seeing him. “You’re not Ryan.” She said, and raised an eyebrow. “Who are you?”

Peter stared at the woman. She had short, fluffy, black hair, cut haphazardly at her chin. Her face was heart shaped, and her lips were dark red with lipstick. Freckles covered her cheeks and nose, dark against her pale skin. She was thin, and only slightly taller than Peter. She also had bright red, thigh-high socks and a crimson choker. She looked at Peter with the same amount of confusion he was looking at her.

“I’m Peter.” He finally said. The woman leaned on the door frame, and looked him over. 

“Why are you here?” She asked, and Peter took in a breath.

“I tracked you here,” He started, and she immediately straightened, looking alarmed. 

“Listen, if this is about Ryan I swear I’ll keep him out of town if you hate him so much. I know he can be a lot but-” Peter cut her off.

“No! No, I don’t even know who Ryan is. I just meant that I found you because you have magic and I want to teach me.” The woman seemed to calm down as Peter explained himself. “I only figured out I had magic a little while ago, and the person I would normally go to for this kind of thing kind of threatened to kill me? I just wanted help, I swear I’m not dangerous or anything.” 

The woman chuckled. “Interesting story. Sure, I’ll help you as much as I can. I mainly focus on nature, so I don’t know how much I can help, but I can teach you what I know.” She stepped back into the house. “Come on in. I’m Savannah, by the way.”

\----

Living with Savannah was, in lack of other words, hectic. She was always doing something, whether it was gardening, cleaning, baking, or fooling around. She was unapologetic in her actions, singing and dancing along to the record player she kept in the living room as she went about her day. At first, Peter found it odd, but as time went by, it grew on him, and he joined in when he could.

He also learned who Ryan was after a few days. It started when there was a knock on the door, and Savannah shouting at whoever it was to ‘Shut it!’. After a few more knocks, though, she set down the spatula she was using to mix cake batter, and went to the door. When she opened it, Peter was surprised to see a full grown stag on the doorstep. Savannah’s voice interrupted his thoughts.

“I’m still mad at you Ryan. I’ll let you hand around, but you can’t come into the house again for a while.” She said, straight faced. Peter gaped at the scene. She stroked the animal and it licked her hand. “Oh stop it, I’m trying to be mad.” She laughed, and went outside with the stag.

When she came back a while later, she went back to her cake. “I wasn’t aware that Ryan was an- was a-” Peter stuttered out, and Savannah chuckled.

“Yeah, he’s a deer. I raised him from when he was little, and he grew attached. He hangs around.” She looked over at Peter’s blank face. “It’s not a problem, right?” Peter shook his head. 

“No, of course not, I’m just surprised.”

Savannah smiled. They went back to their work, Peter focused on a pot on the windowsill trying to make something grow from it, and Savannah working on her cake.

\----

“Sav! Look at this! Aren’t you proud?” Peter yelled.

The two had gotten super close during their time together. Savannah let Peter read all of the books she had on magic, and taught him what she could about nature magic. Peter spent his time with his nose in the books or trying to get his magic to work right. After only a few months, he was as good as, if not better at Savannah, mostly due to his magic being stronger than hers.

Right now, he was focused on growing a tree in an instant. It was working well, roots and vines curling around as he made them grow up to the sky. He also tried to lure some birds towards the new tree. The leaves were a perfect jade and the branches were strong. He could hear the back door open and Savannah gasped. “What?” Peter asked, not turning to her yet, focused on the tree from his spot cross legged on the ground.

“I’m guessing you're not aware that you are actually floating about 5 feet off the ground, then?”

Peter looked down, to see that Savannah had been correct. Whoops. He thought. He hadn’t accidentally floated in a while. “Nope. It’s okay, though. I did this sometimes in the beginning, when I was too focused on using my magic in a different way.” He shrugged. “I’ve gotten used to it.” Savannah scoffed.

“I’m sure you have. It’s still weird for me.”

\----

Peter sat in the window seat reading the diary of a mage that Savannah had gotten her hands on. Most of it was stuff he already knew, but the mage had started to write down theoretical spells and rituals that he had been trying. He was caught up on one specific spell.

Time travel.

It was a complicated ritual, and not even finished. It involved a lot of ingredients, doing it on a full moon, and complicated drawings to ‘focus the magic’. But, the mage had come close, and Peter wanted to see if he could do it. He had been training with Savannah for a while now, and was ready for something new. There were twenty days until the full moon, now was as good a time as any to try it out. So, he began to collect ingredients.

\----

By the full moon, he had everything he needed. 

He found a spot in the woods where he could set it up. He drew runes on trees and rocks, set out homemade candles with specific ingredients, and then sat on the ground. He had decided to go back 5 years, and give him time to rethink his high school years. If this worked, he could learn everything there was to know. 

He could almost feel his magic swirling around him as he started the ritual. He spoke the words written in the book, and trusted that it wouldn’t backfire too bad. The magic in the air grew think, and he could smell each of the candles arranged around him. His eyes were shut, and he became aware that he couldn’t feel the grass under his legs. He smiled, and spoke the final words. He poured all the magic he could into the spell, and hoped that it wouldn’t fail.


	3. Chapter Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The ‘Loop #’ is basically just me labeling loops to keep track and to make it easy for people to know what’s happening
> 
> Let's hope this isn't confusing...

Loop 1

Peter came to in his room. He immediately rushed to grab his phone, but his search for the device resulted in nothing. That was odd, he always kept his phone on his side table. He slowly got up from his bed and looked around the room. Nothing was in the right place, he hadn’t had his room this way since…

Oh fuck.

Peter ran to the bathroom and slammed the door behind him. This was not good. He stared at the mirror, and the face of a 12 year old stared back. He must have done the spell wrong, he had gone back 8 years instead of 5.

Well, he’d just have to redo a bit more than high school.

\----

Peter learned very quickly that it was not fun to be a insanely smart 20 year old in middle school. Everyone acted like everything was so important, and it was very annoying to see his future friends acting like assholes to each other.

He missed Savannah, with her singing and small cakes

He also missed Ryan, who was honestly hilarious to watch navigate in a house.

He almost wished that Johnny was already a mutant so he had something to look forward to after a day of adding decimals and basic biology. 

\----

HIgh School was more fun, at least.

He got to pressure Johnny into joining the space flight, knowing full well what would happen to him. He supposed that he should have felt more badly about that than he did. However, with Johnny being a mutant again, Peter had a reason to talk about powers, and ask Harry to give him money to buy even more magic books. 

He found many books, including a diary written by a powerful wizard who apparently had many ideas on how to stay young forever. He would have to look into that some more. 

 

\----

At the beginning of High School, Peter decided that he needed a focus on what to do so he could go to the best college for that field. To get the worst one out of the way, all 4 years, he had taken all the classes he could to help him get into the best law school he could, Harvard Law.

He applied to the top schools, knowing that law was going to be the worst of the fields he would have to go to. He knew it would cost a lot if he didn’t get a huge scholarship, but it would be worth it. He wanted to learn as much as possible, and going to the best possible school made it easier to do just that.

Wade seemed intrigued that he was going into law, and being the curious shit he always was, he kept asking what made Peter choose law. He insisted that it was just a passion of his, but Wade always seemed just that little bit doubtful. It didn’t really matter, he wouldn’t really remember the conversation after the loop anyways.

\----

Having a perfect memory did come in handy. Not having trouble remembering different laws and rules was quite nice. It also gave him more time to practice magic. He had found a spell that would hopefully let him take things with him when he looped back. This was good, he could keep a journal of all the loops, and he could also take his diploma with him as a way to show what he’d done.

It also gave him time to talk to Wade more. They had exchanged numbers when Peter went off to college, in case he needed anything. He didn’t really need that much help, but it was nice talking to the older man sometimes.

\----

Law school was still the worst, even with his eidetic memory. 

So when Peter finally graduated, top of his class, he was ecstatic. He never had to go to law school ever again. College was fun, but he wasn't exactly looking forward to doing it over and over again. But, that's what he set out to accomplish, so that's what would happen. 

But next loop would be fun, he was going to go to culinary school.

\----

Loop 2

There weren't all that many culinary classes at his school, so Peter took to going to as many out of school classes as he could. He didn't have as much spare time, but he figured the mutants could work it out themselves. He didn't even make Johnny go on the ship. He hoped that would mean it would be easier this year. But a few days after Johnny would have been pressured to go, the boy showed up at the front door of the Parker house. 

“Peter! I think I might go into space!” Peter groaned and opened the door farther. 

“And why would you do that, you’ve never done anything like that.” He said as he returned to his room, making all the open cookbooks floating around his room settle into neat stacks in the corner before Johnny reached the door.

“I know, but I was talking to my sister, and she was going, and she made it sound like fun,” Johnny started to rant about what Sue had said, but Peter tuned him out. Apparently he wasn’t the reason that their lives went to shit, it would have happened no matter what.

\----

To make sure it wasn’t suspicious, Peter made sure to do some ‘research’ before proving that Johnny was a mutant. It wasn’t hard, just get him a bit too angry and ‘flame on’ for Johnny Storm. 

\----

Culinary school was a lot different from law school. It was more hands on, it was delicate, and it was so much more fun. Going to classes was like an escape, almost, away from his friends who always seemed to call for various reasons. By the time Peter was in college, the timelines had diverged enough for new threats and problems to arise. It was almost better this way, he didn’t get as bored of the phone calls he got. 

Yet again he found himself hanging around Wade. He had an apartment near the campus, and on weekends with no classes, Peter would visit and cook with the merc. By the time his first year was over, it was almost a routine for the two to spend their free time together. The summer was a bit different. Normally, Peter would take this time to go off and practice his magic for a few months, but it was harder to sneak off when he spent so much time with someone. 

It ended up with the two of them traveling together, first to Iceland, then Sweden, and Finland. Peter picked these places because they were all home to powerful mages, and he managed to get away from Wade long enough to go visit them, even if just for a little while. 

“You know, if you wanted to go visit someone, you could just ask instead of sneaking off.” Wade mentioned when he got back from visiting the mage in Finland. Peter froze, not knowing whether to lie or tell the truth to the man. “But, I trust you, so if you want to keep pretending that I don’t know anything, go ahead.” That made Peter pause. Ever since he came back to life, Wade had been slow to trust. The fact he admitted to trusting Peter was honestly a big deal to him.

“You trust me?” Peter asked, his voice sounding weaker than he thought it would be. Wade turned to him from where he was lounging on the hotel couch.

“Of course I do, Peter. Even if I don’t show it, I care about you, and that means that I trust you.” Peter couldn’t help but blush at Wade’s statement. 

“I- I care about you too, Wade.” Peter breathed out, still a bit shocked, and his chest tightened at the thought of leaving Wade. “Even if this is only for now.” He muttered sadly, low enough that he hoped Wade wouldn’t hear. However, Wade sat up, and looked at him oddly. 

“What do you mean for now?”

The amount of softness in the man’s voice was enough to make tears come to Peter's eyes. He couldn’t do this, he couldn’t get close to Wade knowing that he was just going to leave. He was already too attached, he couldn’t stop thinking about hazel eyes, V-neck shirts, perfect hair, and now the strangely soft side Wade was showing. It would all turn back next time, and Peter would have to see him as the closed off, despair filled man at the beginning of each loop.

Tears pooled and started to drip down Peter's face as he thought about what he was doing. He couldn’t breath, how could he do this, let Wade drop down his walls only to leave him with no memory? How could he not stop every threat before it even comes, he knows what’s going to happen, he could have stopped it! He could have saved so many lives! It was his fault they died, he could have done something, all his fault… 

His vision was starting to go dark, all he could hear was the blood rushing in his ears and the faint wetness of tears on his cheeks. Something brushed his shoulder and he flinched back violently, unaware of where it came from. Soft mumbles could be heard, but he wasn’t sure if it was him or someone else. Who was with him? He couldn’t remember. 

“-ter!”

Was there someone there? Everything was dark, but he was pretty sure his eyes were squeezed shut.

“Peter.”

Peter was sure there was someone there now, but he couldn’t remember who, breaths still rapid and heart beating fast.

“Breath with me, Peter.”

Someone was counting, in and out. Peter tried to follow along, and little by little his head got clearer. He could hear the person breathing with the counts, and he could tell that he was sitting on the floor, although he didn’t know when that had happened.

“I need you to shake your head if you can hear me.”

The voice was calm and smooth. Peter nodded slightly, and he heard a sigh of relief from whoever was sitting across from him. His breaths were shaky but even, and he stopped squeezing his eyes shut, letting them open slowly. Sitting in front of him, looking worried as all hell, was Wade. He now remembered what had happened, and his breaths sped up just a slight bit again.

“Whoa, Peter, it’s okay, it’s just me.” Wade said, voice soft and obviously worried. He reached to put his hand on Peter's shoulder, but stopped, and quickly asked, “Is it alright if I touch you?” Peter nodded jerkilly, and soon Wade’s hands were resting on his shoulder and his knee. The hands rubbed circles into his skin, and he found more tears coming to his eyes as he tried to think about what to do next.

“Sorry.” He finally croaked out, throat rough from his panic attack. Wade looked at him like he was crazy. 

“Don’t apologize, baby boy. I should apologize for whatever I said that brought this on.” He soothed, making Peter blush at the name. He sniffed and looked up at the man. 

“It’s nothing, I’m just over reacting.” He tried to shake off the hands on him, but Wade held fast. 

“That didn’t look like nothing. If you tell me what’s wrong we can work through this together.” Peter bit his lip. It couldn’t hurt, it’s not like he’d remember it anyways.

So, Peter told him everything. His memory, his intelligence, his magic, Xavier, the time loop, school, everything. Wade’s face changed throughout the story, giving faces of awe, anger, humor, sadness, and something else he couldn’t quite place. 

“You, Peter, are the most amazing person I have ever met.” Peter couldn’t help but blush yet again. 

“Can I tell you a secret, too?” He asked, and Peter looked at him. He thought that Wade would be angry for lying, but here he was, ready to tell him a secret in return. 

“I love you.”

It turns out, Wade’s lips are just as soft as they look.

\----

The next years of culinary school were the best years of Peter's life. He moved in with Wade, and spent all his free time practicing magic and just spending time with the love of his life. However, this meant when it was Peter's time to go back in time again it was so much harder than it had been the previous two times. 

It’s too hard to say goodbye.

\----

Loop 3

Still overwhelmed with the events of the last loop, Peter decided that he would take a year or two (or eight) off. He left his hometown without a notice, halfway through the second week of High School, Freshman Year. He traveled to France, where he perfected his French in the next few years, and then moved over to Wales to learn Welsh. He traveled all over Europe, learning the languages and taking in the culture. However, he kept coming back to France. He didn’t know if it was because he loved the language or the culture, but he did his best to forget about home for the short time he could.

He focused on his magic, meeting with everyone he possibly could to learn about his power and how to control it, until he knew everything the few mages of the world had to offer him.

Then it was back to school.

Maybe he’d try for a degree in art next, that might take his mind off things.

\----

Loop 4

“Oh come on, you can’t be serious!”

Reed had gotten into yet another fight with Ben. Everyone was hanging out in Harry’s loft, and Peter was honestly done hearing the two fight.

“J'aurais aimé que tu te fasses taire.” (I wish you would just shut the fuck up.) Reed muttered. 

Peter snorted. “Me too, Reed.” Reed looked at him oddly, and everyone soon started giving him the same look.

“Since when can you speak french?” He asked him. “I thought you weren’t taking a language.”

Oh. So that’s what they were staring at him for.

“What, a guy can’t learn a language in his free time?” Peter tried to laugh it off, but Reed wouldn’t let it go quite as fast. 

“You would have had to study a lot to completely understand my french. Qu’est-ce que tu ne me dit pas? (What aren’t you telling me?) 

Peter groaned. “I’m not trying to not tell you things, I just don’t think my interest in foreign languages is important to tracking down supernatural creatures.”

Everyone in the room was quiet, listening to their conversation. “Listen, it’s not important, pouvez-vous les laisser tomber?” (Can you guys just drop it?) Peter grumbled, adding in french to prove that it wasn’t anything weird. However, that was apparently a bad idea because now Reed was even more intrigued. 

“That was a near perfect french accent, how did you manage that if you’re self-taught?” He crossed his arms and stared at Peter. 

“I said drop it, Reed.” Peter said again, and left the loft to make sure that no more questions were asked. He had to go finish an art project, anyway.

\----

Majoring in art was even more fun than culinary, he got to draw, sculpt, act, and sing for most of his college years. By the end of his senior year, he was well known around campus for being the lead in the musical and for his talent in sculpting. Actually, he was known for a little of everything, which made people hate him just a little bit for being good at everything.

\----

Loop 6

Seeing Wade again was always a moment for Peter. He knew how much the man would change over the years if he really got to know him again. After kissing Wade, and holding Wade, and just being near Wade, Peter couldn’t look at him in the same way, especially knowing how good they were together. The thought of never doing that again made Peter want to burst into tears.

Sometimes, that’s exactly what he did. 

\----

Loop 16

Peter was done with school for now. He had majored or minored in so many fields it was almost hard to keep track. So, he focused on his magic again. 

By the end of the loop, he had gone back to the journal of the mage who claimed to be able to be forever young. Peter had changed his spell just a little to make sure it worked for him, and he also fiddled with his time loop spell so that he was able to keep the same physical form when he went back in time. Now that he was done changing schools, he went back one more time to make sure that he had a variety of skills in his high school years and from then on, only repeated time after high school.

It was a lot easier, he didn’t have to worry about the beginnings of his friend group, he could just leave town the minute he got back in time and no one would miss him. Now that he was in the same body every loop, he decided to start learning things he needed to actually work on to do, not just read books on. He started with fighting, because after the few self defense classes he took as a kid, he did want to learn more. And now that he didn’t lose his progress, it was worth all the work he put into it.

\----

Loop 20

Peter had spent his past loops trying new things. Dance, singing, gymnastics, archery, weightlifting, hell he even did drag for a few years. Each time he decided to get a tattoo commemorating his new friends and talents. All of them but the first were designed by other people. The one he designed was the only magic tattoo he had. It was a cat with hazel eyes that roamed his body, walking across his skin like it belonged to him. He also had various runes, but those were more for his magic and he used spells to hide them, so he normally didn’t count them.

The first tattoo from a friends design was a simplistic chinese dragon, drawn by his teacher at the gym he went to to learn how to fight. They quickly became friends and when Peter said that he wanted him to draw a design for his tattoo, he was happy to. The reasoning behind the design was that the two had travelled to China for a year to learn a traditional style of chinese fighting together.

The second was a ballet shoe from his friend at a dance academy. She loved to paint, and the watercolor design worked beautifully on Peter's pale skin.

The third and forth were on the same loop, a geometric abstract design and a stylized cat with a space helmet. Neither really had anything to do with what he had done with the friends, the abstract from his weightlifting partner and the cat from an archer, but he loved them both the same as the ones that did relate. By now it was more of getting his friends to draw his tattoos than to mark his skills.

Now, anytime he got close to a person, he asked them if they wanted to design his next tattoo. People were less sceptical the more tattoos he had covering his arms, and soon came tattoos, five, six, seven, and eight. They were all done by his drag friends, who were all quite good at art. 

One was a beautiful lilac flower, one was a shark in a sandwich, one was the horizon of the city in a single line, and the last was a rabbit wearing a monocle. All of them were special in their own way.

The ninth tattoo he got was drawn by the 8 year old son of his room mate. The boy was the sweetest you’ve ever met, and had overheard Peter asking his father to draw him a tattoo, and took it upon himself to draw one when his father said no. He came back with a picture of a penguin, and Peter loved it so much he had to go through with it. 

Even after many more tattoos, it still remains his favorite.

\----

Loop 25

Normally Peter is out of town quickly enough to not bump into anyone. But, for the first time, he ran into someone he knew before leaving town. And with his luck, of course it’s Wade.

He immediately tried to backtrack before the older man saw him, but it didn’t seem to quite work. Wade glanced over and caught his eye, and when he did, he narrowed his eyes. “Peter?” He asked slowly, probably because he was so much different in this loop than the one that this Wade was from. Peter would have just come out of high school, with his lanky body and smooth skin not covered in ink. But here he was, a lot more muscled, yet still lean, and arms covered in tattoos.

“Hey, Wade, what’s up?” Peter tried to greet normally, but it still came out strained. 

“Don’t play dumb, Peter, what the hell is going on?” Wade almost sounded mad at him, which was a tone that made Peter fold in on himself a little. He couldn’t hide from Wade, couldn’t hide from the man he loved. 

It felt odd, spilling some of his secrets to Wade for a second time. He told him about the magic, and (some of) the loops, and even the one they spent together. What was left out was his intelligence, his memory, and his many, many years of schooling. Details were left out, but he never lied to Wade, he couldn’t bring himself to.

“I’m coming with you.” Wade decided at the end of Peter's rant. Peter thought back to how hard it was to say goodbye the first time and violently shook his head. 

“You can’t, I wouldn’t be able to leave you again.” He managed to get out. Wade frowned and thought for a moment. 

“You can take books and stuff back with you, right? So take me back, too.” Peter stilled. That, might just work.

\----

Peter had planned on doing more dance this loop, but decided on something easier to do at home. He take up different instruments. First it’s the piano, because Peter had tried it in the past and it seemed like a good place to start. Wade used his money to buy them a loft apartment in Boston, and Peter bought a beautiful grand piano that sat in the corner of the living room. In the first year, Peter looked at so much sheet music he though his head would explode. But, after learning how to make his fingers move separately and quickly across the keys, he mastered it. 

After piano was the violin. Wade said it hurt his ears at first, but when Peter put in a soundproof room with his magic, he would often stop by and listen in.

Next was the guitar. Peter bought so many different guitars his room looked like a music store. Then he took up the flute. Then trumpet, and saxophone, even the marimba, which was quite hard to fit with all of his stuff.

Somewhere along the road, Wade had taken to playing the piano as well. He must have taken lessons, because he knew what he was doing. Peter loved hearing him play, and whenever he could he would make sure to be doing something out of his room to hear him. 

Peter had also taken up singing with his music. He sat for hours in his room, strumming his guitar and singing covers of every song he knew. He wasn’t sure when it started, but soon Wade would stand in his doorway whenever he did.

\----

Soon 4 years had passed and it was time to try to bring Wade back. Peter had to be touching what he wanted to bring back, so he grabbed Wade’s hand and began the spell. He let his magic course through him, and the world faded around them as the two took a last glance around their apartment. 

Then there was black.

\----

Loop 26

The second Peter came to he grabbed his phone and called Wade. The phone rang a few times and as soon as it picked up, he rushed to say “Did it work?” his voice filled with childlike hope. A laugh came from the other end. 

“Yes, baby boy, I’m here, I remember.”

Happy tears came down Peter face instead of the sad ones he normally had.

\----

Loop 35

More and more often Wade would join Peter in trying something new. When Peter learned exotic dancing, Wade became a bartender. While Peter ran around the city doing freerunning and parkour, Wade learned new techniques of self defense. Together they backpacked across Europe, and climbed Mount Blanc. They biked through Canada and canoed along the Yukon River. Each loop was a new adventure, even when it was something smaller like owning a shop.

The two had even gotten married after spending a few loops together. They did it legally, rings, papers, wedding and all. They kept what they could, but soon it was just the papers and their rings. That was enough for them. Wade also designed multiple of Peter's tattoos, including a Celtic knot and the date they got married.

They were happy, just the two of them and the whole world to explore.


	4. Chapter Four

Loop 37

Everything was changing. 

Only a year into the loop, the two had opened a bake shop in New York City. Peter baked, Wade took orders, and they both loved it. They lived a small loft above the shop, and every morning they would get up early to bake fresh bagels and cakes for the morning customers. It was simple, and it was a break from all the action they normally had.

“Peter, are there anymore vanilla cupcakes back there?” Wade called from the front. He looked around, and spotted a tray of unfinished ones on a rack. 

“Yes, give me a moment!” He called back, and grabbed a bag of frosting from the fridge, and melted some chocolate with his magic. He quickly frosted the cupcakes and drizzled a bit of chocolate on top. He brought them to the front and passed them off to Wade, giving him a peck of the lips as he did. Even after a very long time, the two still acted like lovesick teens.

After another hour, it was about noon. Peter was going to take his break for the day with Wade, but a scream from outside caught his attention. He looked at Wade, and the world was silent for a moment. Then there was more screaming and a large crash. 

“What’s happening!” Peter moved closer to Wade as he spoke. Wade shrugged and went to the door. The bell chimed as he opened the door, and as they stepped outside, they saw a giant portal open up above Stark tower. Peter's stomach dropped, as giant metal beasts flew out of the hole, starting towards the streets. He grabbed Wades hand and pulled him back inside the shop. 

“We are not getting involved in this.” He said firmly. Wade started to protest, but seeing the look on Peter's face, he knew not to push. 

They tried to wait out the battle, but it was hard to turn a blind eye. Anyone who passed their shop were ushered inside and given a place to rest from the fighting outside. They were sent to the back room so that they didn't have to look outside at the wreckage. It was working pretty well, any time a creature came near his shop, he or Wade would take care of it. However, when Captain America himself is thrown to the ground in front of the shop, it's a lot harder to ignore.

Peter's eye widened as the Avenger crashed into the road. He ran outside, and saw one of the gigantic metal flying fish coming straight towards them. He panicked and threw up the strongest shield he could to stop the beast. It crashed into the shield and Peter used the air around him to crush the beast into an ultra dense ball of metal and beast about the size of a basketball. He then used a blast of energy to send the ball back into the void of the portal. He turned back to the man lying in the road, and moved over to him. The Captain was conscious, but only barely. Peter picked him up and moved him into the front room of the shop. 

“Wade, keep everyone back there.” He called to his husband, and he got an affirmative answer in response. 

He lay down the soldier and put a slight healing spell on him, just enough to make him okay to move. The man sat up slowly, and looked around. “How the hell-” he started to say, but Peter shushed him. 

“Just don’t.” He reaches over to the counter behind him and with a smile, he handed Captain America a chocolate cupcake. “Here! Free of charge for my favorite superhero.” He grinned childishly. He knew he should act a little more shaken up due to the giant fight happening outside, but with his magic, he's really not in any danger. The super soldier was speechless, and slowly unwrapped and ate his cupcake. 

And Peter definitely didn't smile even wider when he seemed to enjoy it. 

“Thank you?” He said slowly, and Peter laughed at his confusion. 

“No, thank you.” He replied, only half as a joke. So, Captain America left the bakery, off to fight once more.

\--------

Steve was more than a little confused.

He remembers falling, pain, and seeing a Leviathan coming straight at him. He had basically accepted that it would hit him. And then, there's this kid in front of him, and without even moving his arms, a shield is in front of them. It shimmers slightly, like a bubble might, but when the monster hits it, it holds strong. The boy in front of him holds still too, back to him. He tenses slightly, and the beast curls in on itself, folding itself into a small sphere. The boy’s head tilts upward slightly and the sphere shoots off back into the portal at Stark towers.

Trying to get a better look at the kid, Steve moves to sit up, but finds himself falling back in pain. He shuts his eyes, and when he feels the kid pick him up with almost no effort, he's almost not surprised. He’s soon set down of a table of some sort, and he vaguely hears the kid say something. He lays still for another minute and then tries to get up again. Unlike last time, he doesn’t fall back in pain, and he sits up to see the kid watching him from next to the counter.

He’s muscled, but still relatively small, and his skin is pale and practically flawless. His cupid's bow lips are curled back in a smile that’s way too happy for a battle, and his amber eyes show mostly delight. He’s also wearing an apron, covered in color, frosting, and various baking necessities. It’s over all a very weird scene.

“How the hell-” Steve starts to say, already thinking of ways it would be possible for what he just witnessed to happen, but the kid shushed him. 

“Just don’t.” He said, his voice light. “Here! Free of charge for my favorite superhero.” Steve looked at the cupcake being held out to him. The kid was grinning ear to ear, and the soldier couldn’t help but take the dessert from his hand. He took a bite, and was pleasantly surprised at how good the cupcake was, and was amused to see the boy’s smile grow even wider somehow. 

Steve finished the cupcake and stuck the folded wrapper into his pocket. “Thank you?” He said, and if it sounded like a question, it was probably due to how confused he was at the whole interaction. 

“No, thank you.” The kid responded, nodding at him, but Steve couldn’t quite tell if it was a joke or not.

The bell chimed as he closed the door behind and started off toward the nearest cluster of Chitauri. Soon the bake shop had left his mind.

\----

The team was seated at a shawarma restaurant, silently reflecting on the battle. Steve thought back to the boy he met, and reached into his pocket and pulled out the cupcake wrapper. He stared at it, wondering if he could go back another time, it was a really good cupcake. 

“Where’d you get that? You slacking off and eating cupcakes while we fight?” Tony commented when he saw the wrapper. “Who is even selling cupcakes during a battle?” He laughed. 

“Some kid gave it to me, he saved my life.” Steve put the wrapper on the table and turned to Tony. “We have to talk to him, he took down a leviathan without even breaking a sweat. He’s not human, he can’t be.” He trailed off, not knowing how to describe what had happened. The food was forgotten, everyone listening to the story. “He was doing something, there was a shield, and then the leviathan was being compressed, or something. It was amazing. Then he gave me a cupcake.” 

They came to the decision that they needed to find this kid, to make sure that he wasn’t a threat, and try to hire him or at least do some tests on him. They also decided that they should ask SHIELD about it, they seemed to be one step ahead of everyone when it came to unordinary people.

\----

The battle was over, so Peter and Wade sent everyone hiding in their backroom back out to find others and see what the damage was. The shop was a bit of a mess, the windows broken, the front room tossed about, and some of the displays had fallen over. Major cleaning had to be done to fix this. So, Peter took out a speaker and started playing some music while he cleaned. 

“Wade, you start outside while I clean up the cakes, okay?” Peter moved towards the displays that had fallen, while Wade grabbed a broom to clean up the debris that had fallen outside and at the front of the shop. They worked with the music in the background until the shop was mostly cleaned up. When Wade came back in, Peter recounted his encounter with Captain America.

“Do you think that they will do anything?” He asked, looking at Wade when he was finished with his story. Wade shrugged. 

“They might, it’s not often they come across someone with such great power, you know.” He replied and Peter winced. He never liked when people knew about his power, it made them look at him differently. Wade had known him for so long that it barely mattered, and looked at him with amusement rather than fear when he put his power to use. 

“I hope they don’t, I wouldn’t know how to explain any of this.”

\----

It was about a week later when Wade saw Captain America and two other people walking towards their shop. 

“Do you think it’s about the magic?” Peter asked, and Wade gave him a look. 

“No, he just wants another one of those cupcakes you gave him. Of course it’s about the magic.” Peter gave a pained smile when he saw Wade’s glare. 

“Hey, it’s not my fault! He was going to die otherwise!” He protested, trying to get the blame off of him. Sadly, Wade was still glaring.

It was right before the group got to the shop when Peter actually thought about that he was going to do. He couldn’t go back yet, He had been careful on his last loop of high school, and redoing that would take far too long. Not to mention that the spell to bring him back was difficult, he didn’t have all the ingredients he needed right now. So, he accepted his fate and began thinking of ways to explain his magic.

\----

Steve had called SHIELD as soon as he got back to the tower. They had gotten back to him quickly and after giving a short explanation of what happened, they sent over two agents to follow up on the kid. When they arrived a few days later, they introduced themselves as Daisy Johnson and Melinda May. 

“What are you going to tell him?” Steve asked after they greeted each other. 

“We believe that he is an inhuman, a person who has alien DNA in them. If he is, he could be dangerous if not taught and controlled correctly.” Daisy replied.

They left to go find him soon after that.

When they reached the shop, the kid was standing at the counter. Steve opened the door and walked up to the displays of cupcakes, cookies, and various other baked goods. “How can I help you today?” He asked, his voice cheery and light. Steve looked at Daisy, expecting her to ask the questions. 

“We've heard that you can do something that most people can’t, and we're also here to teach you about it.” She said bluntly, and the kid almost looked relieved. 

“Okay, what am I then?” He asked, and Daisy smirked. 

“We call them inhumans.”

\----

The kid looked at them, and burst out laughing. “I’ll have you know, I’m perfectly human.” It seemed as if the suggestion that he wasn’t human was the funniest thing the boy had heard in his life. Once he calmed down, he spoke again. “Okay, this has been fun, but I’m okay not joining your, whatever it is you want me to join. So I’ll see you around,” He paused, and looked at the two women. May seemed to pick up on the fact that they hadn’t introduced themselves. 

“I’m Melinda May, and this is my partner Daisy Johnson. And your name is?” She asked, and Steve had to admit that he was curious of the kid’s name by now. 

“Oh! I’m Peter Wilson.” He said.

“Nice to meet you, Peter.” May said, and nodded politely. “And I’m sorry, but we have to take you in to make sure you aren’t a danger to yourself or others, just as a precaution.” She said, and Peter stiffened, the wide smile dropping slightly. “If you know anyone else that may be an inhuman, that would help us as well.” Daisy added, and Peter chuckled to himself. 

“Sorry, I’m the only inhuman around here as far as I know. Also, I assure you, I don’t need to be ‘taken in’, I’m perfectly fine.” He kept trying to get out of going with them, and Steve was starting to be a little suspicious.

“And I assure you that this is routine for anyone who shows any sort of ability, we don’t plan on harming you in any way, we want to help you, and possibly offer you a job.” Daisy said, and Steve looked at her.

“A job?” Steve asked. He knew that they were going to do some research, put his information in a database and maybe keep track of what he does, but not give him a job.

“A job?” Peter repeated, thinking the same thing as the super soldier. 

‘Yes, depending on your power level, you could be useful to SHIELD, in both tracking down other inhumans as an agent, or just work as an intern.” She smiled at the boy across the counter, who looked conflicted. 

“Can I think about that for a few days and get back to you?” He asked slowly, glancing at the clock on the wall. May nodded, and took out a card with her business information. 

“We will be back in a week if we don’t hear from you.” May handed him the card and turned to leave. Steve gave one last glance at the boy before following her out.

\----

As soon as the three left, Wade came out from the back of the shop. “I guess that’s our queue to leave town?” He sighed, looking over at Peter, who was staring at the card in his hand. 

“Why not?” He said, mostly to himself, then turned to Wade. “Why not take the job? I could intern for SHIELD! It would be a new experience, and that’s what my life is all about, right? What’s the worst that could happen?” He said, getting more excited as he talked. “I could alter the tests, it wouldn’t be too hard. I could play down my magic, make it look like what I did for Steve was the most I could do! This could be fun!”

Wade looked at Peter. “Are you sure? You seem to like working here, you would just leave it?” He asked, and Peter smiled. 

“I can open a bakery again, when’s the next time I’ll have an opening into SHIELD?”

Peter called Melinda May the next day, and asked where he could meet up for this ‘testing’. “I’m not sure what that means, but I’m hoping no needles, I don’t really like those.” He had told her. She chuckled and said that there would be a blood test, so just a few needles. On the day they set to meet, Peter walked over to the address sent to him. He met up with Daisy and they entered the building.

“So what exactly are you testing for?” Peter asked as he was led into a mostly clear room except for a table and a few chairs. 

“We need to know what, and how powerful, your abilities are. Depending on that, we can move on.” Daisy said, and sat in one of the chairs. 

“So, now what?” Peter still wasn’t sure exactly what he was supposed to be doing. Daisy smirked. 

“Fight me.”

\----

To be honest, Peter could have brought the girl down without even using magic. But, this is playing down his skill, so he used basic fighting techniques to fight, and only minimal air magic. He let Daisy win, easily enough that he didn’t look trained, but hard enough that it was still a bit impressive. 

“Is that all you’ve got?” Daisy called after she threw him away with her powers. Peter laughed. 

“Is this what you wanted?” He yelled back, and let the air around her push in on her skin a bit, trapping her in the spot. He walked towards her, and slowly added pressure as he came closer, not enough to actually hurt, but enough to prove himself.

“That’s what I’m talking about!” She laughed, struggling against the air. Even after only knowing her for about an hour or two, Peter knew that he would be friends with her. He floated Daisy up a little, then abruptly dropped her causing her to flail and grab onto him on the way down. They ended up in a giggling pile on the floor.

“So you are obviously a good fighter, and you’re strong, too. How would you like a job as a SHIELD agent?” Daisy asked once the two had finally finished dueling. Peter looked at her, and thought for a second. If he became an agent, he would likely use his powers even more, and while it was fun, he didn’t want to put so much effort into only manipulating air. So, he had to decline.

“Is the option for being an intern still open? The job experience is good and I’d love to work about the labs and do some work.” Peter told Daisy when he refused the SHIELD agent position. Her face broke into a smile. 

“I can do that! I could get you a spot at Stark industries if you wanted?” Peter grinned.

“That would be perfect!”

\----

“Come on Wade, I’ll be fine. It’s an internship, I’ll get to use all the equipment I couldn’t get my hands on when I actually studied chemistry and stuff!” Peter whined. After telling Wade that he was going to take the internship, the man had been sceptical. 

“What if they find out something that they shouldn’t? Then what, Peter?” Wade just wanted to keep his husband safe, even knowing full well the man could keep himself safe.

They talked for hours, moving from the topic of the internship, to magic, to practically anything. It reminded Peter of the times they spent just talking in past loops, spending long nights laughing and crying, having serious talks and joking ones. He voiced this, and the two sat in silence reminiscing until they both fell asleep, right on the floor of the kitchen.

\----

Steve looked at Daisy like she was crazy. “You gave him a job in the labs! From our searches, the kid hasn’t even been to college, and you’re going to let him do whatever he wants in a Stark lab?” He didn’t understand the girl’s logic. This kid, Peter, was not qualified for this opportunity, so what, he has special abilities? That doesn’t make him smart. Steve didn’t know what to say.

“Come on, Cap, give him a chance I think you’d like him.” She replied, smiling. Daisy was about to speak again when her phone rang. She looked at it and her smile widened, and she answered. “Hey, Peter!” Steve groaned. He was in the middle of a conversation, and now it would have to wait.

When the conversation was over, Daisy looked at him. “Guess who has his first day tomorrow?” She laughed, and Steve groaned.

\----

Peter was only having small breakdown. He was going to work at one of the best labs in the world, and he could do basically whatever he wanted. Daisy had made it sound like the whole point of him going was to find out new things, and Peter had been around long enough that he had a journal of things he wanted to do. He was super excited, even if he could only do the non-magical things he wants to try. It was enough for him.

Wade still seemed a bit worried, but he had accepted that this was good, and nothing bad could really happen in the long run. So, when Peter announced that he was going to start the next day, it was mainly him trying to calm down his panicky husband. After Peter had calmed down a bit, he began to run through all the things he wanted to try and do. 

“First, I want to explode something, it’s been far too long. Maybe after I can try to work on something for Steve, he doesn’t seem to like me all that much, not sure why though, I’m a great person. Anyway, I can use my designs for that cool fabric, you know the one I’m talking about, right babe? No? Wow, I thought you cared. Well, since you obviously don’t care, I’ll explain it for you. It’s a special fabric that’s basically bullet proof, and it keeps you cool or warm, it adapts to you. It’ll also absorb some of the impact of things, like if he ever does get hit. It’s only in my designs, so I’ll figure out more about it later. But do you think that would work? I can make him a new suit. Or maybe I can just help out Daisy, ‘cause she actually likes me. What if I helped out Tony Stark? He’s never met me but maybe he’d appreciate some help. Ah, who am I kidding, he doesn’t want help from a kid that looks about 20. Maybe some of the other SHIELD agents. I didn’t meet many but who knows,” He kept ranting, and Wade honestly thought he would never stop.

So he did what any sane person would do. He reached for a small pastry from the case next to him, and he shoved it in Peter's mouth. The boy looked almost offended, and once he had eaten the pastry, he looked more accepting. “I was starting to rant, huh.” He bit his lip, looking a bit ashamed. 

Wade nodded. “You really do have a lot of ideas, but save them for the lab, not me.” He chuckled. He always found Peter to be amusing, always full of energy and thoughts, even after living for so long his youthfulness had yet to die out.

\----

First day on the job, and Peter was late.

He spent 20 minutes figuring out what to wear, he needed to make a good impression while still showing off that he would fit in with the others in the lab. Wade refused to help him, saying that ‘it’s stupid, they won’t care if you wear a black or red shirt’. 

(He had gone with the red.)

He also made sure to use a strong glamor to cover his tattoos, he didn’t know what the dress code for this place was, but he didn’t want to look too out of place with his sleeves of ink.

He ran into the building only seconds before the time he was supposed to meet Daisy, and when he practically collapsed from running full speed for the past 15 blocks to the building, she just laughed at him. When she finally stopped, Peter was glaring at her. “Don’t laugh at me, I was trying not to be late!” He tried to protest, but it didn’t stop the girl’s laughter. He eventually gave up, and she led him into Stark tower. 

“I was going to offer you a muffin, but the laughing puts you on my ‘no baked goods’ list.” Peter joked in the elevator, as he pulled out a container of muffins from his bag. 

Daisy gasped. “You wouldn’t! I haven’t had the honor of having any of your creations yet, don’t deny me this!” Peter laughed, and opened the container and pulled out two muffins. 

“There, one for me and one for,” he paused, grinning, “Also me.” And he bit into one of the muffins.

“Oh you asked for it.” Daisy smirked, and used her powers to distract him as she grabbed the muffin from him hand and took a victory bite. She practically moaned at the taste. “How the hell is it this good! Muffins are basically just bad cupcakes!” 

Peter laughed. “If you think that, you’re making them wrong.”

The elevator opened to a corridor with multiple glass windows on each side, showing people working on various lab experiments. Peter looked around with childlike enthusiasm, thinking up all the ways he could play with the equipment. He stared at the labs until Daisy grabbed his arm and dragged him farther down the hall. “Come on, your lab is over here.” She opened a door near the end of the hall, and it opened into a lab similar to the ones he saw earlier. Peter gaped at the room, and Daisy couldn’t help but laugh at him. “This is mine?” He asked, and she nodded. “As long as you don't completely destroy it, yeah.” 

Peter grinned, and gave her the container of muffins. “I probably won’t leave here for the next few hours, so make sure people get these. Think of it as a ‘thank you’ of sorts. Oh, and make sure Steve gets one, I don’t think he likes me all that much and if I work here, I don’t want him to hate me.”

He wasn’t even looking at Daisy by the end of his speech, he was moving towards the various equipment around the room. She was about to say something, but realized that he wasn’t paying attention to her anymore, his focus now on the high tech microscopes in the corner. She sighed, and left him to his science. She had muffins to deliver. 

After taking one for herself, Daisy walked around the labs giving one to many of the interns. After that, she went to the Avengers common room floor to find the Captain. Luckily, he was there, and turned when the elevators opened. “I have a gift for you, a muffin from Peter.” She said when he gave her a questioning look. Steve took one, and took a hesitant bite, and he seemed to enjoy it the same amount she had.

“How does he do it?” He muttered.

“I don’t know, but he is-” She was cut off by her phone. She looked down to see that it was May, saying that they needed her to look over something for SHIELD. She sighed. “I’ve gotta go, take these?” She said, handing the muffins over to the surprised super soldier before going back to the elevator.

\----

Steve was sitting on the couch, staring at a pile of muffins when Natasha entered to common room. He didn’t even look up at her, he just stared, as if they personally offended him. She sat down across from him, and looked at the muffins. 

“Where did they come from?” She asked, knowing that sometimes others in the tower would bake, but not all that well. 

“That new inhuman kid made them, Daisy brought them up.” He said, still looking at the muffins. Natasha raised her eyebrow and took one, unwrapping it and slowly taking a bite.

“Damn, that kid can bake.” She muttered, and Steve turned his glare from the muffins to her. 

“I still don’t like him.” He said, and she frowned. 

“I don’t see why you’re holding a grudge, he did save your life, after all.” 

Steve sighed. “I know he’s hiding something, Nat, I just can’t figure out what.” Natasha smiled and grabbed a second muffin as she stood up.

“You’re just mad that he makes better muffins than you.”

\----

Coming in from his run, Bucky ran into Natasha. She looked like she was headed to the training room, with two muffins in her hands. At his confused look, she explained. “The kid that saved Steve made muffins, I’m giving one to Clint.” As they parted ways, Bucky snatched one of the muffins from her hand and she didn’t really try to stop him. 

“Thanks for that!” He yelled after her as he stepped into the common room. 

Steve looked up from the couch as he entered, and groaned when he saw what was in his hand. “Is everyone just going to take that kid’s side for those things?” He said, and Bucky smiled slightly. 

“I haven’t even tried it yet, Stevie, who knows if I even think they’re that good.” He then took a small bite, and couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Okay, maybe they are that good.”

\----

As soon as Natasha entered the training room, Clint dropped from the rafters. “I smell muffins.” He said, and he reached for the baked good. Suddenly he hesitated. “Did Steve make them, because we all know what happened last time he baked.” He laughed. “Who am I kidding, if he made them they wouldn’t look so good.” He grabbed the muffin and took a big bite from the side. 

He groaned. “Okay, who made these because I need to personally thank them.” He said, mouth already full of a second bite. Natasha couldn’t tell if he was joking. 

“Apparently that new inhuman that started working here, the one that saved Steve, made them.” The archer nodded. “Makes sense, too. He does own a bake shop.” Clint started to move back to his spot in the rafters as he finished eating. He turned back to Natasha.

“Get me another and I’ll love you forever?”

\----

The common room was empty by the time Bruce emerged from the lab. He was working with Tony, and the time just seemed to get away from them. The two would likely work for a few more hours, so Bruce had been sent to get some food and more coffee. As he was getting the coffee going, he saw a plate of muffins sitting on the table. He walked over, and grabbed one, looking it over as he moved back to the coffee pot. It looked innocent enough, so he took a bite.

He didn’t know if it was the lack of sleep or what, but that muffin was the best thing he’d eaten in a long time. He finished the rest of it fairly quickly, and then stared at the rest of them as he waited for his coffee to be done. He knew he didn’t need another, but by the time the coffee was done, he was loading a smaller plate with a few more muffins to warm up to bring back to the lab.

“How the hell does someone make muffins so good?”

\----

 

When the door to his lab opened, Tony expected some coffee and maybe some crackers, so when Bruce walked in with his coffee and steaming muffins, he was practically overjoyed. 

“Those better be for me.” He said, and stared longingly at the warm goodness. Bruce laughed and set the mugs and the plate down. 

“I have no idea who made them, but they’re good so it couldn’t have been Steve.” Tony grabbed one and bit into it, moaning at the taste. 

“Who the fuck cares who made them, just eat them.” 

The muffins were eaten in record time, and while they both wanted more, neither had enough motivation to leave the lab. They worked mostly in silence, other than a few comments here and there and the sound of coffee mugs hitting the table. 

“Do you think whoever made the muffins will make more?” Bruce asked, and Tony shrugged.

“I don’t know, but I hope they do.”

\----

Peter first day at Stark Industries had gone pretty smoothly. He experimented with all the cool equipment, and managed not to break anything but a single test tube. He counted that as a win on his part.

He got back to the apartment at around 6, and greeted Wade, who had run the shop all day without him. Peter ran up to change into his pron, and rushed back down to start baking some of the deserts they had run out of. 

After a few hours, they were ready to close. “So how was your first day?” Wade asked as they tidied the shop. 

“It was great, I think I’ll be able to do a lot there, and Daisy liked my muffins!” Peter grinned and Wade laughed. 

“Of course she did, you’ve been perfecting your baking for almost 150 years, Peter.” 

Peter grinned. “You bet I have.” 

\----

The couple finished cleaning and moved upstairs to cook dinner. Peter sat on the counter and talked about his day as he watched Wade make dinner.

“-I wasn’t sure if I’d get in trouble for breaking it, I mean, it was only a single test tube but I don’t know what they’re like. So I did what anyone would do and I fixed it. I made sure no one saw me, don’t worry, and it was super easy too. I could honestly teach almost anyone how to do that if they had even a touch of magic. I will say that people seemed pretty nice. Almost everyone came in to talk to me at some point. I even had Clint Barton come down and complement my muffins! Not only did he like them, but he said that Natasha fucking Romanoff liked them too! I mean how often do you hear that the Black Widow likes your muffins!”

Wade smiled as he listened to Peter recount what had happened. It wasn’t surprising, honestly, that he had made so many friends, he was a likable person. He could listen to his husband talk all day, but he needed to interrupt him. 

“So are we keeping the shop open if you’re going to be there all the time?” He asked, and Peter fell silent. He bit his lip, deep in thought. 

“I don’t think so, I don’t know how well it would work out to have one person work there that isn’t even the person that bakes, you know?” He said, sadly. Wade knew that Peter had loved the bakery, and was going to be sad to see it go. 

“Maybe I could get a job at Stark Industries as security, then.” Wade mused, mainly to himself, but Peter overheard and perked up. 

“That would be great! We could still technically work together, and you’d get some job experience!” He seemed excited at the prospect of them still being in at least the same building.

“I guess I have to apply for a job, then.” He replied, getting out his phone with one hand as he continued to work on dinner with the other.

\----

For the next few weeks, Peter continued bringing baked goods to work with him. He’d give some to the other lab employees, and if there were enough left over after lunch with Daisy, he’d send her up to the Avengers floor to drop the remaining ones off. And considering he often made a lot of whatever he decided would be the day’s baked good, there were often extras. He had yet to hear back the results of his ‘gifts’, but he hoped that they enjoyed them. 

Bruce and Tony still had no idea where the deserts were coming from.

\----

“Are you good at gift giving?” Daisy said out of the blue. The two were eating lunch and it had been mostly quiet except for a few comments at the beginning of the meal. 

Peter shrugged. “I like to think that I am if I know the person, why?” 

Daisy sighed. “It’s Bucky’s birthday in a few weeks, and while yeah, I don’t know the guy all that well, he deserves a good birthday present.” Peter nodded in agreement. 

“I’m not sure what I’d get him, but I feel like a smart choice would be something useful, what does he do often?”

They bounced ideas back and forth for the rest of lunch, and when Daisy left to take the fest of Peter's butterscotch cookies up to the Avenger’s floor, Peter knew what his goal was going to be when he got back to work.

He was going to make Bucky Barnes a new arm.

\----

Daisy talked a lot about people she knew. Being a SHIELD agent, that probably wasn’t something she should do, but Peter was okay with it, and often told stories from his past loops, being careful not to name names. One of the interactions Daisy had mentioned was with Bucky. She had seen him when she was dropping off some macarons in the common room. He was coming back from his daily run, and Daisy caught him rubbing his arm and grimacing.

 

“What’s wrong?” Daisy asked as the Winter Soldier came into the room. He looked up quickly, not expecting someone else to be in the room. 

“It’s nothing, really.” He said, waving her off. Daisy stood her ground, and asked again. 

“That doesn’t look like nothing, Barnes, what’s wrong?” She tried again, and this time he gave in. 

“It’s just that my arm hurts, it never really feels quite right. Not really sure why it’s been acting up, probably age or somethin’.” 

 

Peter knew that if he pushed a bit of magic into his work, he could make a damn good arm for Bucky. He’d have to find out what size the arm would be, however, that might be difficult. As soon as he reached his lab, he got out some paper and started to design a new arm. It would take up the rest of his time until the man’s birthday, but he was fine with that. If there was one thing that Peter liked, it was making other people happy. 

The next day, Peter scheduled to take his break at the same time Bucky went for a run. He went to the coffee shop next door and made an effort to make sure he got into the same elevator when Bucky came back from his run. He was trying to sneak enough looks at the arm to be able to work out the correct measurements when the man spoke. 

“Are you that new intern that makes all the baked stuff?” Peter grinned and looked at him. 

“That would be me, I’m guessing you’ve gotten some if you’re asking?” 

Bucky nodded. “I’ve gotta say, there always seems to be something new.” 

Peter laughed. “As long as Daisy brings it up, there’s gonna be something.”

“You know,” Bucky laughed. “You’ve become sort of a hero to Bruce and Tony. They always steal whatever you made and take it to their lab in the middle of the night. I don’t even think they know it’s you who made them.” Peter couldn’t help but laugh along. 

“I’ll make sure to write ‘Peter made this’ on the next batch of cupcakes I make.” They were still laughing when the elevator opened to Peter's floor. “Well, I’ll see you around!” He called as he stepped out, waving as the doors closed. 

When he got to his lab, he quickly sketched an arm on a sheet of paper and started working on his new arm.

\----

Wade generally liked his job at SI. He worked as a security guard near the front entrance, and no one actively hated him at work. However, he got the feeling that most people were a bit scared of him. He wasn’t quite sure why, because yes, he was quiet and looked like he could do some serious damage to you, but so did most of the other security guards. He told this to Peter and he had just laughed and said, “It’s because you’re so hot that they don’t know how to talk to you.” It wasn’t quite the answer that he was looking for, but he stopped really caring. 

The fact that no one paid any attention to him was kind of nice. He easily overheard conversations with his enhanced hearing, and gossiped to Peter about it over dinner when they got home. His husband found it very amusing, even if he personally didn’t care. He did, however find it fun when he overheard conversations about himself every so often. People tried to figure out who he was, the mysterious security guard that talked to no one. Someone even hypothesised that he was a vampire once, and he couldn’t help but laugh at the thought.

They never actually guessed anything right.

\----

Peter continued to work on Bucky’s arm for the next week. The birthday was sneaking up on him, and he was starting to wonder if he’d finish in time. He had a few prototypes and they seemed to be working well enough even without magic involved. However, he didn’t know how it would actually react to Bucky, and he couldn’t figure that out without ruining the surprise.

He tried to model it mostly like the one he already had, red star and all. It was going to be similar, but it used a different metal and he would embed runes in it to make sure it worked as well as possible along with the mechanics being close to perfect. He was close to starting the final product, he had tried out all the runes and the casing looked sleek. He set down the piece of metal he was working on and looked at the clock, realizing it was time to meet Daisy for lunch.

“What’d you bring for me today?” She said as he sat down. 

Peter laughed. “I made madeleines, and I don’t just bring them for you.” Daisy shrugged. 

“Doesn’t matter to me, I still get to eat them.” Peter rolled his eyes at her. 

“Do you know if Steve still hates me? I’m hoping these make him like me still.” The response was another shrug. 

“I don’t know, I think he’s annoyed that everyone likes your baking rather than his.”

“Well that’s his problem not mine, right?” Peter said, and they both broke out into giggles.

When he got back to his lab, he resumed work on the arm. He started with the metal, and started carving runes and spells into the interior. It wouldn’t show, and a last rune made them invisible to anyone who didn’t know to look for them. He worked carefully until he left for home at 7, and when he came in the next day, he did the same thing. 

When he was finished with the metal outside of the arm, he moved to the wiring and inner workings. He didn’t put runes on them, but he did infuse magic into them to make sure they wouldn’t deteriorate or come loose over time. He finished the inner workings the day before Bucky’s birthday. He had a few more hours of work left, and he made sure that the arm was almost completely done by the time he left.

He woke up early the next morning, 5 hours before he had to be at work. He made his way downstairs to the bakery, and started on a birthday cake. It was going to be a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and strawberries to decorate, because who doesn’t love chocolate? By the time Peter needed to leave for work, the cake had cooled and frosted, and the finishing touches were being added. It was stuck into a carrier and Peter was on his way.

Once in his lab, the cake was set on a far table and the arm was taken out to finish up. He made sure the joints worked well, the metal was polished, and the wires were nicely in place. Then he placed the arm in a box and grabbed both the box with the arm and the one with the cake on his way out the door. It was a little past the time Bucky got back from his run, so if Peter went up to the common room, he should be there. He took a deep breath and pressed the button for the avengers floor.

\----

Bucky’s day had been pretty good so far. Steve had been making eggs when he woke up, and the new pair of running shoes he received from Clint had been a nice surprise. He’d received many birthday wishes, and he was looking forward to the gift Tony had been hinting at for the past few days. He heard the elevator door open and he expected to hear Daisy come out with new baked goods, but when he turned, he didn’t see her. Instead, there stood the kid himself, looking a bit nervous.

“Peter?” He asked, and started to get up from his seat on the couch. 

“Hey! Hi, uh, it’s your birthday today, right?” He asked, shifting from one foot to the other. In one hand, he was holding what looked like a cake carrier, and the other held a large gift bag. 

Bucky smiled. “Yeah, it is.” Peter looked a little more relaxed, but still had yet to move into the room much farther than a few feet. “You can come in, you know, anyone who makes desserts as well as you is always welcome here.” 

Once Bucky had convinced Peter that he was allowed to move, it was easier to talk to him. “It’s a good thing it actually is your birthday, because I made you a cake and a gift.” Bucky was surprised, he barely knew this kid and he had made him a birthday present. “Here, open it.” 

Peter was getting more excited as time went, and Bucky was glad to take the bag from him. He opened it slowly, and when he saw what was in it, he gasped and looked up at Peter. “I heard that the one you have was giving you trouble, so I figured I’d help out.” Bucky couldn’t believe it, the arm in the bag was similar to his old one, but better in every way. 

“This is, I don’t know how to thank you for this, Peter.” He said tears coming to his eyes. No one really noticed his pain, and when they did they never went out of their way to help. Peter smiled. 

“If you want, I can help you put it on? Only if you want you don’t even need to try it-” Bucky shushed him. 

“I’d love that, thank you.” 

Peter went down to his lab and grabbed a few tools, then made his way back up to the Avengers floor. Bucky was sitting on a stool, now shirtless to give Peter better access to his arm. “Okay, I’m not sure the best way to go about getting this off, and I’ll probably need to give you some sort of anesthetic because it will probably hurt removing that.” 

Bucky nodded, and motioned to the hall on the left of the room. “Bruce’s lab is over there, everything you need will probably be in there.” Peter nodded back, and they both walked towards the lab. 

\----

When Natasha made her way into the common room, the first thing she heard was laughing. This was unexpected, because it should have been a few hours after Daisy left, and Daisy was normally the source of laughter in the tower. However, listening closer, she could tell that both voices were male. She entered the room and saw Bucky and Peter sitting cross legged on the large counter in the kitchen with a large chocolate cake in between them. There were a few forks sticking out of the cake and about a third was missing.

She was about to shrug off the scene when she noticed something odd about Bucky’s arm, it seemed to be different. After a harder look at the arm and quick glance around the room, she realized that he had a new arm, and then noticed the old arm sitting on the couch. “I don’t know wether to ask about the cake or the arm.” The two turned to her. Peter grinned. 

“I baked a cake for Bucky’s birthday, if you want you can grab a fork and have some.” 

Bucky laughed. “He also built and installed a new arm for me, isn’t it cool?” They both seemed a bit hyped up on sugar.

Natasha rolled her eyes, but grabbed a fork and hopped up onto the counter between them. They cheered like children and she smiled, she normally didn’t see Bucky laugh this much. “So am I going to hear more about this arm?” She asked, and Peter lit up. 

“I love building, and since Bucky’s arm was hurting him, I had to see what I could do. And I mean, it was his birthday! How could I not make it a birthday surprise!” The kid looked so proud of himself, and the way that Bucky looked so happy with his new arm, he had a reason to.

The three continued to chat and eat cake as the night continued. They were joined a while in by Clint, who was more than happy to grab a fork and eat some cake. He also brought over a bottle of wine that was definitely not needed, but greatly appreciated by all. When Tony and Bruce finally emerged from Tony’s lab, they also joined the small group, bringing a second bottle of alcohol and a lot of gushing over Bucky’s new arm (and the cake).

“I need to stop eating this fucking cake.” Tony groaned, as he reached over for another bite. “Why’d you have to make it so good?” Peter laughed. 

“Hey, you don’t know the half of it, I made this shit every day and I eat way too much all the time.” He turned to where he had set his fork down and stabbed another piece of cake. 

“Can you cook as well as you bake, because if yes, can you do that now because I’ve been craving mac and cheese.” Clint said as he looked at Peter with what would be puppy dog eyes if he wasn’t a buff 30 year old man. Peter did, however, find it hilarious, so he got up, and moved to open up all the cabinets in search for pots and the correct ingredients. Clint quietly fist pumped when he figured out what he was doing. 

Three pots, four cheeses, and forty minutes later, Peter had made a large bowl of homemade mac and cheese. The group of now 6 each grabbed a bowl and a second fork and dug into the cheesy mess. “Holy shit this is what I needed.” Clint moaned, and proceed to eat his entire bowl in under 30 seconds. The rest of the group had similar reactions. 

“And you eat this every night? Damn, just fuckin’ marry me already.” Tony laughed while shoving forkfuls of pasta into his mouth.

“Sadly, no, I don’t think my husband would like that, although if you had asked me that a few years ago I would have taken you up on that.” Peter shrugged, definitely a bit drunk on the multiple bottles of wine. He looked around at the rest of the group and realized they were staring. 

“Since when are you married?” Bruce asked, and Peter realized that he might have not mentioned that little fact. 

“Sorry, I must have forgot to mention it?” He chuckled. “But yeah, I’m married to Wade, you know, in security?” That seemed to make them even more confused if anything.

Bucky rubbed at his eyes. “And how the hell did you get that guy to marry you? That guy is scarier than I am.” The group nodded in agreement, and Peter groaned. 

“He does look scary, but you wouldn’t say that if you actually knew him, trust me. Now can we not talk about my love life?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if that's a weird place to stop, it was better than some other places.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	5. Chapter Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Peter interacts with the Avengers some more.
> 
> He's having fun, they are intrigued.

Following the night of Bucky’s birthday, Peter found himself going up to the Avengers floor more often. Whether it was to drop off a new baked good or just to talk, the residents of Avengers tower were mostly used to walking in on Peter cooking or talking to another Avenger. So when Natasha stepped out of the elevator and smelled something delicious, she knew Peter was there. She reached the kitchen and almost walked directly into Peter, who was carrying a large pan of steaming vegetables. “Смотрите, куда идете!”(Watch where you’re going!) Natasha scolded and Peter laughed. 

“You’re the one that came into my kitchen, Nat.” He chuckled as he went back to his cooking.

Natasha looked at him. “You know Russian?” Peter groaned as he continued to work on his food. 

“Come on, can’t a guy just know Russian? Please don’t be like Reed when she found out I knew French.” While she had no idea who ‘Reed’ was, Natasha was hung up on the fact that Peter knew at least three languages. 

“How many languages do you know?” Peter turned to her, and winked.

“That’s for me to know and you to never find out.”

\----

There’s always been a white grand piano in the corner of the common room at Avenger tower. Tony once knew how to play it, but it had been long forgotten. In fact, no one in the tower really knew how to play, so it was left untouched. 

Tony walked into the common room to Peter frosting a cake. It was only vaguely unusual, normally he didn’t bake full cakes for them. He couldn’t help but ask about it. “What’s the occasion?” 

Peter turned to him and grinned. “It’s a new recipe I’m trying out, and since Wade doesn’t like poppy seeds and refuses to try my lemon poppy seed cake, I thought I’d try it out here.” 

Tony nodded in approval. “It’s not like I’m going to complain.”

They sat in relative silence for a while, just enjoying the company. Peter looked around the room as he finished his cake, and his eyes landed on the piano. He had noticed it on his first trip up, and while it looked like it hadn’t been played in years, he bet that he could get it to work with a little magic tune up. “Do you play?” He asked and Tony looked over, confused. “The piano, do you know how to play? I know it hasn’t been used for some time but, there’s gotta be a reason it’s here.” 

Tony sighed. “I used to play, I’m sure I would be pretty shit if I tried now. I honestly forget it’s even there most of the time.”

Peter wiped his hands on a towel and walked over to the piano, touching it lightly to tune it and make it sound just as beautiful as it would have the day it was first made. He thought back to when he used to play piano with his mother, and the songs she had taught him before she had gotten sick. As he sat down, he remembered one that he hadn’t played in a while. “Do you mind if I play?” He asked and Tony shrugged.

He let his fingers hit the keys, and soon he was lost in the melody of the tune. The background faded away as he thought of his mother, and how she loved playing music with him, even when his fingers couldn’t span the keys like they should. They always played together, and as Peter grew, he could reach more keys, and his playing got better. Now, he could reach all the keys, and he smiled at the thought of what they could have played.

He played the last note, and let his hands fall from the piano. The room was silent, and Peter almost forgot Tony was still there until he spoke. “Wow, where’d you learn to play like that?” 

Peter jerked his head back to Tony and laughed slightly. “My Uncle taught me, I don’t even know the title of it, He learned it from his grandfather and I never really asked.” They sat in silence for few moments and then Peter turned back to the piano. “Let’s see what else I can still play.”

The next hour consisted of the two going back and forth on the piano, playing random songs. Tony was very impressed at Peter ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ and Peter found it funny how Tony only knew popular songs from the 90’s.

\----

Bruce didn’t train like the other Avengers. He still had trouble controlling the Hulk, and very few people (just Natasha) could calm him down. However, he knew Tony did sometimes, so when he couldn’t find the inventor in his lab, he headed down to the training rooms to see if he could find him.

It was a short walk from the kitchen, where Peter had insisted that they eat together for once in their lives rather than disappear as soon as they got their food. And Bruce really wanted the rice dish that had been made, so he volunteered to find Tony and bring him up. He opened the door to the training room in time to be almost hit with a stray blaster ray. He looked up to see Tony flying around in his suit, trying to shoot at targets set up around the room. Bruce started to call out to the flying man, but it didn’t seem to be doing much. Shots from the basters were going everywhere, and before he could react, one came straight at him, hitting him square in the chest. 

Tony was caught up in the adrenaline of shooting the blasters, and he was thrown off when he heard a cry of pain after a shot. He quickly turned and stopped shooting, and saw Bruce on the floor near the wall, holding his chest. A string of profanities left Tony’s mouth and he rushed over to see if the scientist was okay. “Bruce!” He shouted, landing on the ground next to the fallen man. He cursed yet again, not because the man was hurt, but because he could see the start of green tingeing Bruce’s skin. 

He reached out to put a hand on the slightly green shoulder, hoping to calm him down before he hulked out, but as soon as his hand touched Bruce, he flinched back violently, and his skin turned even darker. The figure in front of him suddenly grew in size, and soon the Hulk was standing in front of him. Tony bolted for the door, knowing full well that he wouldn’t be able to do much in the area of calming him down. The training room was built to withstand anything, so the Hulk should be contained for the time being. He knew he needed other help, but Natasha was on a mission or who knows what, and no one else had the capabilities of calming Bruce.

When the door to the kitchen burst open, Peter expected two hungry scientists, but what he received was one very scared Iron Man. “What happened.” He immediately said, as Tony calmed himself enough to form words. 

“I accidentally shot Bruce and now he’s hulked out in the training room and I have no idea what to to because Natasha’s not here and I can’t believe I did that what kind of person shoots their best friend-” 

Peter cut off Tony as he started to ramble. “Let me go deal with it, stay here and eat something.”

Peter made his way to the training room slowly, trying to think of the best way to calm down a green rage monster. He knew many spells regarding calming, and while he normally used them to calm his anxiety, he hoped he could use them to calm down the Hulk.

The second he stepped into the large room, the Hulk was upon him. He sidestepped out of the way, and then began to talk. “Hey,” He started, voice soft. “Calm down, Bruce. There’s lunch upstairs, we’re waiting for you.” He hoped the calm of his voice would do something to the green rage monster in front of him. He put out a calming aura, and sat on the ground, trying to be as non-threatening as possible. 

A few minutes later, Peter exited the training room, with a confused, surprised, and half-naked Bruce Banner in tow. 

\----

“Fuck you, it’s my birthday so I get to choose where we go!”

Clint was arguing with Steve about his birthday. Clint had somehow decided that he wanted to go to a comedy club for his birthday, specifically one known for their wonderful drag queens. Steve, however, was highly against the idea, mainly because he thought it would be awkward, and they wouldn’t fit in. “I just don’t understand why we can’t just go out for dinner, or just stay here, even!” Clint rolled his eyes at the super soldier. He was about to retort when the elevator opened. 

Daisy and Peter walked though, and immediately stopped their conversation once sensing the tense atmosphere of the room. “What did I miss?” Siles asked, and looked back and forth from the two men. Clint began to speak but Steve cut him off. 

“Clint wants to go to Icon Bar for his birthday, I just don’t think that’s quite… appropriate.” He glared at Clint, who scoffed. 

“You just think it’s weird that I, as a middle aged straight guy, want to go to a drag show.” Peter took this lull in conversation as a chance to but in. 

“That sounds like fun, Clint, and Steve, get over yourself it’s just for fun.” Steve continued to glare, and then he stalked off.

A few days later, the group, minus Steve, found themselves sitting in Icon Bar. It was colorfully lit from all angles, and they only dimmed a bit when the show started. Clint seemed to be having the time of his life, and even Bucky and Natasha couldn’t help but laugh. Bruce seemed a bit apprehensive at first, but soon fell into the fun atmosphere of the bar. 

Two hours of singing, laughing, and dancing went by in moments, and soon the show was over. The performers came out to mingle after a while, and soon chatter filled the air. Soon, however, it was pierced by a squeal. “PETER!” Clint turned to where the voice seemed to be coming, and saw one of the queens, who Clint remembered to be Sinnamon Buns, running over to a grinning Peter.

Amazingly, neither fell over when the queen came barreling into Peter. He laughed loudly, and hugged back. “Why didn’t you say you were coming? We could have done something on stage together!” She laughed, and Peter chuckled. 

“I’m here with friends, and I wanted to be in the audience for once, Sin.” Clint couldn’t tell if he was joking about the whole ‘in the audience for once’, but was intrigued nonetheless. He walked over and swung an arm around Peter. 

“So I’m guessing you know each other based on the screaming?” He asked, smirking. Sin laughed, and Peter blushed. 

“Oh Peter here is a regular, though he’s mostly backstage.” She winked and Peter groaned. 

“You make it sound like I’m doing something bad, which I honestly expected from you.” He turned to Clint. “I help them with clothes and makeup sometimes, it’s no big deal. Drag is fun, you can’t expect a guy like me not to love it.”

The conversation continued for the rest of the night, other queens joining at various times, greeting Peter like an old friend. And if Clint left that night with a picture of Peter in full drag from a few weeks ago, no one really had to know.

\----

When Peter got a call from Daisy at 6pm on a Friday, he assumed that she was inviting him for drinks, as she had done the same thing a few weeks prior. However, that was not the case. 

“Apparently when buying coffee, you have a chance to win prizes now, and guess who won!” Daisy squealed through the phone. “It’s for some dance class, I’m not sure what but it sounds like fun! I can bring one person, so you’re coming with me!” She seemed to excited for it, and Peter couldn’t help but laugh. 

“That sounds good, when is it?” He replied, he did love to dance, after all.

The next day Peter found himself waiting for Daisy outside of the building the dance class was in. He recognised the name, but he’d never been to this specific studio. He had brought the smaller of his two dance bags, he didn’t know what exactly they were doing so it was hard to know what to bring. Soon, he saw Daisy coming down the street.

“You didn’t ditch on me!” She laughed, and Peter pouted.

“What kind of friend would I be if I did that?” They entered the building and as Daisy figured out where they were going, Peter looked around the lobby. It was nice, and he was surprised that they would be giving out free classes. Daisy finished up talking to the front desk, and they made their way to the correct studio. Daisy entered first, and immediately burst out laughing. They were about to take a pole dancing class.

Peter chuckled. “I guess that means I should change out of my jeans?” Daisy rolled her eyes, and Peter laughed as left the room to go change. He returned a few minutes later in tight booty shorts and a loose tank top. 

“Damn, how often do you dance, Peter?” Daisy stared at him as he walked in, and he grinned. 

“You’d be surprised.”

As Peter glanced around the room, he noticed that he was the only guy, and honestly wasn’t surprised. He was about to comment on this to Daisy when a woman entered and walked to the front of the room. She wore medium sized heels, and carried a box, likely full of more heels. She clapped twice to get everyone to stop talking, and then smiled. “I’m sure most of you are here for the free class, and I will let you know now that just because it’s free, doesn’t mean it’s easy.” 

They soon started on basics, and while most people had a bit of trouble, Peter had obviously done this before. “Nicely done, have you had classes before…” The teacher asked when she came over to him. 

Peter smiled. “I’ve spent a lot of time dancing, I’m here with my friend.” The woman raised her eyebrows. 

“May I ask to see what you can do?” A smirk grew on Peter's lips. 

“Of course.” 

A few moments of preparation, and Peter was suddenly doing intricate flips, spins, and moves on the pole. There was no actual routine, no rhyme or reason to the movements, yet it still looked planned and beautiful. Everyone in the class had stopped to watch the show, and when Peter finished in a split, Daisy burst out in applause. The teacher looked utterly surprised, and stuttered as she left to go lead the class in the next exercise.

“Where’d you learn to do that!” Daisy whisper shouted to Peter, and he laughed. 

“I’ve practiced dance for so long that it comes naturally, though it was odd doing that not wearing my heels.” Daisy gaped. She knew how it felt to walk in heels, and could only imagine trying to do that in them. 

“We are coming back with heels. No getting out of that.”

The next week, they had a private room, and Daisy might have a video of Peter in 7 in heels with platforms dancing on a pole, well, that was just for them.

\----

Two people knew about Peter's magic, Peter himself and Wade Wilson. Every once and a while, he’d let a friend in, but they never remembered in the end. He only told people he knew he could trust.

“I’ll never trust you again.” Peter laughed as he wiped cream cheese frosting off of his nose. Bucky was laughing at him, having put the frosting there a few moments earlier. 

“Oh I’m sure, I’ve ruined my chance at trust for as long as I live.” He giggled sarcastically. Peter pouted and threw some of the leftover powdered sugar at his opponent’s face. 

By the time the cloud of sugar had faded, Bucky was covered in white. “Oh you asked for it.” He said as he launched himself towards Peter, who was laughing so hard he could barely breath. Soon, both men, the countertop, and the floor were covered in a mix of sugar, frosting, and cupcake batter.

The two turned to each other, and almost immediately burst out laughing again. They were each layered with powder. “We should probably get cleaned up, I’ll loan you some clothes.” Bucky said in between laughs. Peter nodded in agreement, and followed him up down the hall to the bathroom. “Let me grab some clothes and then you can shower.” Bucky left the bathroom, and was back soon after with a pair of sweatpants and a shirt. After he left, Peter turned on the showerhead and got into the shower. As soon as Peter stepped under the flow of water, he realized something. This was his opportunity to ask Bucky the question he’d been dying to ask. 

He’d known for a while that he was going to ask each of the Avengers, even Steve, to draw up a tattoo for him. However, he had been using a glamor to cover them to seem more normal to his new friends. He didn’t know how to approach that fact, but now, he could say his concealer washed off in the shower. It was perfect!

As he finished cleaning the flour out of his hair, Peter let the glamor drop, and immediately many tattoos faded onto his skin, covering a large portion of his arms, torso, and even a few on his legs. He could easily tell the exact story of each one, and it was a nice reminder of everyone he’d met, even though he could never forget them. He stepped out of the shower and dried himself off and put on the sweats and top before leaving the bathroom.

When he stepped into the kitchen, Bucky was already sitting on the counter, staring at his phone and eating a cookie. “Hey Pete-” He started, but trailed off as he glanced at Peter. Peter couldn’t help but laugh at his face. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost, Buck. What, you didn’t expect me to be a tattoo kind of guy?” 

Bucky shook his head slightly, before getting his wits back. “Why’d you hide them?” He asked, and Peter shrugged. 

“I guess I didn’t know if tattoos were okay to work here yet, I have been refused a job because of them once, I didn’t want it to happen again.” He seemed like he didn’t quite know the exact reason, but it did make sense to cover them for a new job.

Bucky laughed. “You wouldn’t have been fired, all you did was make yourself even more badass.” Peter giggled as he grabbed a cookie for himself and sat next to the super soldier. “When did you get them?” He asked, not able to resist learning more about his friend. Peter rarely talked about his past, no one really knew why. 

“I’ve collected them over the years, asking people I know to draw me a new one after I know them well enough.” Peter paused, and turned to Bucky. “Actually, I was hoping you'd draw something for me.” He said, and the other man stared at him. Suddenly, he broke out into a big smile. 

“Of course I will, but I'll warn you, I'm not the best artist.” He smiled at Peter, and the two continued to talk as Bucky got out a piece of paper to start planning a tattoo.

Peter was telling the stories behind some of his tattoos, and Bucky almost felt honored to be able to know Peter’s past. “What about that one?” He asked, and Peter looked to where he was pointing. It was a simple design, a magic wand with multicolored sparks around it. 

Peter laughed, and started talking. “It was mostly a joke, Wade thought it would be funny, and I agreed. The story of why it's funny is a bit longer, though.” He finished, and Bucky didn't know whether to pry into the backstory or let it go. 

Peter, on the other hand, was highly considering just telling Bucky about his magic. This was an opening to do so, and he basically trusted Bucky with his life by now. His thoughts were interrupted by a voice “We have time.” Bucky spoke up, and Peter grinned. He had made up his mind.

“I have magic.”


	6. Chapter Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kinda long but hey, it's the last one.
> 
> I'll probably have a sequel at some point, but probably not soon unless you all motivate me enough.

“Of course you have ‘magic’, you’re an inhuman.” Bucky said, laughing. He was still focused on his drawing, but he looked up to see Peter still grinning. 

“No, I mean, actual magic. No alien DNA here, just a human with a mage for a mother and a wizard for a father.” 

Bucky had set down his notepad, and was staring skeptical at the other man. “Sure, and I’m a normal person.” Bucky snorted, obviously not believing Peter’s story. 

Peter raised an eyebrow. “You sure about that?” All of a sudden, he disappeared into thin air. Bucky’s eyes widened, and he gaped at the spot Peter had been sitting. 

“What the fuck?” He whispered. He stared at the spot for a moment, before looking around for his friend. A loud laugh suddenly came from behind him. He whipped around to see Peter sitting on the opposite counter, eating what looked like a macaroon. “Where did you- what- how…” Bucky stuttered out as Peter continued to laugh.

“What? I went home and got a macaroon, is that so weird?” He joked. 

“It is when it only took half a minute!” Bucky got out, still mostly stunned. 

“It’s a simple portal, Buck, not too hard to understand, see?” Peter replied, and a mid sized portal appeared in front of him. He stepped into the swirling void and it closed behind him. Not a moment later, it reappeared on the other side of the room. “See? Not hard.” Peter laughed, and Bucky grinned. 

“Now this could be fun.”

\----

It was Bruce’s birthday, which called for another Avengers outing. 

He had chosen trivia, and since Tony was in charge of planning, they had an entire bar rented out to play. As they arrived, Tony explained the rules. “Okay, get into teams of three!” He yelled, and everyone grabbed a table for their group. At one table sat Peter, Bucky, and Natasha, next to them sat Bruce, Wanda, and Sam, and at the final table were Steve, Rhodey, and Clint. Tony was the host, so he sat at the bar. 

“Now, in your groups, come up with 15 questions about the people on your team, the other teams will have to answer them correctly to gain a point.” Everyone looked at the teams and groaned. If there was one team with an advantage, it was Bucky’s team. No one knew much about Natasha, and people knew even less about Peter. The three in question high fived and started writing on the pieces of paper they were given. After a while, each team had a different colored basket with their questions. The baskets were given to Tony, and the game began.

“First up is a question for Bruce’s team. What color did Clint dye his hair Junior year of High School?” 

The game went on, with questions like “How old is Steve?” (97) and “How many times has Bruce been to Canada?” (4). Out of all the teams, the most intriguing questions by far were from Bucky’s team. They asked questions such as “How many languages does Bucky know?” (4), “What is Natasha’s favorite color?” (Periwinkle), and “How many instruments does Peter play?” (9). It was also noted that Peter could speak 15 languages, which raised a few eyebrows. It was an odd game, and Bucky’s team won with 21 points, Bruce’s team came second with 17 points, and Steve’s team lost with 15 points. 

\----

“So, are you going to tell me why you can speak 15 languages?” 

After trivia ended, the group just started talking, and had merged the table into one large one in the center of the restaurant. Most had let the game slip out of their minds, but apparently not Natasha. “I have a lot of free time.” Peter shrugged, and she narrowed her eyes. 

“You’re telling me you learned 15 languages because you were bored?” Natasha asked incredulously. 

Peter laughed. “Basically. Why, are you jealous I know more languages than you, Nat?” She glared at him, but there was nothing behind it. 

“You wish, Parker.”

Natasha kept bringing up what she had learned at trivia night. Sometimes she tried to be sneaky about it, but other times it was blunt, and straight to the point.

“So, can you play the accordion?” She asked out of the blue once as she watched Peter make Madeleines. He turned to her questioningly, and sighed. 

“Sadly, no, Wade wouldn’t let me buy one, he insisted that I would ‘ruin his ears’.” Natasha nodded, then went back to her phone. Peter didn’t know what had brought the question on, but he didn’t even try to ask.

“Gówno!” (shit!) Natasha swore quietly as she got flour all over her black tank top. 

Peter was trying to show her how to make a simple chocolate cake, but the assassin wasn’t quite getting the hang of it as he thought she would. “Watch your fucking language, Natasha.” Peter joked and he flicked even more flour onto the pouting woman. 

She smirked. “So you know Polish?” Peter groaned. “I just need to figure out the other 12, now.” Natasha was determined to figure Peter out, and Peter was certainly okay with her trying her best to do so.

\----

Peter had gotten mostly used to being around superheros all the time. However, it was still a bit of a surprise when he walked into the living room and someone new was there. 

The first time, it was Nick Fury, who Peter promptly smiled at, and offered a freshly baked cookie to. He seemed confused, but accepted nonetheless. Now, Peter would send a few cookies to Fury whenever he happened to be in the building. 

The next person was Scott Lang. Peter wasn’t quite sure who he was, but again, offered a smile and a cupcake to the new guy. They got along quite well, and after a while, they made a delicious dinner together, and the other Avengers definitely did not complain.

This time, however, Peter walked in to see the Avengers all gathered in the room, all staring at a man standing next to Thor. He was wearing a green coat, long black hair slicked back with too much gel for Peter’s taste, pale skin, and a sharp jaw. The man turned to him when he entered, and beautiful green eyes stared him down. After a moment, they widened, and the man drew in a breath. Tony seemed to realize he wasn’t paying attention to them, and followed his gaze to the elevator. 

“Hey Pete, didn’t hear you come in.” He said, causing the others to look over at him. He gave a slight wave with his free hand, and lifted up a tray. 

“I made coconut chocolate cookies, but if you’re busy I can leave them here and come back later?” He said, ending in a question. He was intrigued, but didn’t want to intrude.

“No don’t leave! Bring the cookies here!” Clint yelled over, and made a grabbing motion at the cookies. Peter laughed and walked over to the group. The man in green was still staring at him, wide eyed. 

“By the way,” Tony mentioned, as he grabbed a cookie from the tray, “This is Thor’s brother, Loki.” 

Peter looked over at the man, Loki. “He’s the god of mischief.” Bucky whispered as Peter went to stand near him. Peter eyed the man, and then, as he often did, offered a cookie. Loki seemed to not know whether he should accept it or not, but took one after a while.

“So why is he here?” Peter whispered back to Bucky, and he shrugged. 

“I’m not sure, I haven’t been paying much attention to be honest.” 

Peter laughed. “Of course you haven’t.” 

Bucky shrugged again. “All I know is that he hasn’t spoken since Thor found him, we haven’t been able to get him to talk yet.” 

When Peter looked back, Loki was still staring at him, eating his cookie. The startled look that had been there before had gone, and was now more apprehensive. “I’m just saying Thor, how much can we actually trust- Loki! Are you even paying attention!” Tony stopped to call Loki out, realizing the god hadn’t been listening to anything he was saying. “Well I guess you wouldn’t answer that, would you.” Tony seemed to be getting frustrated at Loki’s silence. Loki finally let his gaze move from Peter to Tony. He then pointed at Peter.

“What, will you only speak to Peter now?” Clint groaned. He had sat down on the couch, and taken yet another cookie. Loki shrugged, and nodded slightly, smirking at the archer. Peter gaped at the man. He didn’t even know him, yet the minute he walked in, Loki volunteered to talk to him, and only him. 

“I guess that’s okay with me.” Peter said, and turned to Thor for approval. Thor glanced at his brother, unsure of what he was up to, but ultimately, he just wanted him to talk again.

“If my brother wants to talk to young Peter, I will allow him to.” He spoke loudly, and Tony looked at him in surprise. 

“Are you serious? We have no idea what Loki wants!” He protested, but Loki was already leaving the room. 

Peter glanced at Tony, giving an apologetic glance. “I’ll be fine Tony, just eat a cookie and relax.” He quickly turned back to the door Loki had left through and followed him.

\----

Peter and Loki ended up in one of the spare rooms around the tower. This one housed random pieces of junk the Avengers didn’t want to keep in their room, but didn’t want to throw out. A painted bookshelf held random books and movies, an acoustic guitar stood on a stand in the corner, various lamps sat on the floor, and paintings leaned on the walls. The room itself was probably larger than the entirety of Peter and Wade’s apartment, which annoyed Peter the slightest bit. 

After glancing around, he turned his gaze to Loki. “Why me? You won’t talk to your brother but you’ll talk to the random kid that walks in? Was it the cookies?” Peter said the last question as a joke, a slight smile on his face. He wanted the god to feel okay talking to him, even if he barely knew the guy. 

The joke worked, and Loki chuckled a bit under his breath. He then turned to Peter, and shook his head. “It wasn’t the cookies, but they were very good.” He spoke, his voice smooth, and it reminded Peter of the kind of voice you could listen to all day and never get tired of it. He tried to keep his shock at how easily Loki began to talk to him. 

“Then what was it?” He asked, trying to stay on task. Loki’s mouth curled up into a smirk. 

“I’m just wondering if anyone out there knows who you really are, Mage.” 

Peter’s eyes widened, and he wondered for a moment if coming with Loki was the right idea. “Wh-what do you mean? I’m a- I’m just an inhuman! Mage? Those are real? You must be mistaken…” Peter trailed off as he recognised the very clear ‘really?’ vibe Loki’s face was giving off. Peter bit his lip. He didn’t know how powerful Loki was, what if he wanted to kill him? Peter couldn’t fight a literal god! Oh god, he was going to die. This would be like with Xavier, but there way no way of getting out.

Peter’s breath began to come faster, and he became aware of a slight ringing in his ears. No one can save me, he thought, I’m all alone with a god who wants me dead. Peter shut his eyes as tightly as he could, his breaths rapid and short. I can’t even say goodbye to Wade.

Meanwhile Loki was watching in horror, the powerful being in front of him was hyperventilating, eyes shut tight and a few tears slipping out. He tried to think of what may have caused it, and realized soon that it probably sounded like he was going to hurt the other man. Loki sucked in a breath. He didn’t know how to handle this, but he had to try. “Peter? I don’t know if you can hear me, but I need you to know that I’m not here to hurt you.” He tried, but there was no change. “I’m just curious as to how a person as young as you is so powerful.” He reached out to Peter, who flinched at the touch but didn’t move away. 

Peter could tell that Loki was trying to talk to him, but he couldn’t make out the words. He focused on his heartbeat, his past experiences dealing with panic attacks had helped him learn what to do when he had them. Soon his breathing had slowed a bit and he could hear what Loki was saying. “-just wondering, no harm, I swear! I don’t know how to help you, all I wanted was to understand how you’re so powerful!” The god sounded stressed, and based on what he was hearing, Loki hadn’t meant to send him into a panic. After realizing this, Peter calmed down, and finally opened his eyes to see the god’s concerned face.

“What do you want to know?”

\----

Loki was very excited to talk about magic with Peter. Mages were very rare nowadays, and often didn’t know of their true power. Peter was the most powerful mage- no, most powerful anything that Loki had ever met. He was also confused as to why the others didn’t know. “I’m just curious, these are your friends, yes? So why would they treat you any different?” He asked, and Peter sighed. 

“I’ve been alive for almost 200 years. I know that might not be all that long for you, but, it is here. Plus, I remember literally everything. That’s not normal, even for you. I’ve spent all my time learning and training, I’m just so different from them. I would never fit in again.” He shook his head. “Even when I told Bucky, I only said I had actual magic and wasn’t really an inhuman. I didn’t touch on the fact that I’ve been to college for 27 majors and 43 minors. It wouldn’t go well.”

Loki raised an eyebrow. “You don’t seem to mind telling me, how am I any different?” Peter bit his lip, and shrugged. 

“You’re a god. You’re probably smarter than me, more powerful, you’re fucking gorgeous, and I barely know you, so there’s no pressure to keep the same dynamic.” 

It made sense, but Loki had to comment on one thing. “I’m not more powerful than you, you’re more powerful than me, and everyone else I’ve met in my many years of being alive.” Peter’s eyes widened, and he opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Loki rolled his eyes. “Just because I’m a god does not mean that I am more powerful, you have an astounding amount of power.” He paused for a moment, and then spoke again. “And you likely know more than I do on matters surrounding Earth. My knowledge is much different.” 

Peter smiled. “If only I could read about Asgard on the internet.” He joked, and Loki laughed. He then became thoughtful. 

“I could grant you access to Asgard’s library, if you would like. There are thousands of books there, on many planets.” Peter’s jaw dropped. 

“You would do that?” He asked, in awe that Loki, a god he had only known for about an hour, would help him learn even more about the world. 

“Of course, as long as you will tell me more about your magic, I haven’t spoken to a mage in quite some time.” Peter grinned and nodded his head. 

“Sounds like a deal.”

\----

The Avengers were still in the living room when the two came back about 6 hours later. They had spent the time fooling around, mostly. They had compared powers, and Peter had fun disguising himself as Loki and making fun of the pouting god. Even though they hadn’t know each other for long, they got along easily, and Peter even created a portal to the mall to buy Loki a phone so that they could keep talking after Loki went back to Asgard. 

“Why are you guys still here?” Peter asked, confused. 

They were all on the couches, and Clint had pulled up a movie to pass the time. “We were waiting for you to come back, we need to know what Loki wants!” Tony said, exasperated. 

Peter glanced at Loki, of all the things they discussed, that was one of the things they forgot. “Uhhh…” He tried to think of a reason that seemed legit, but Loki cut in before he had to. 

“I simply want to study Earth’s culture, I’d like to get back into my studies.” Loki said, voice smooth. “I assure you, I am no threat.” Tony narrowed his eyes at the god, obviously not quite believing him. 

“Come on Tony, he just wants to learn, is that such a crime?” Peter defended Loki, and a small smile made its way onto the god’s face. 

Tony sighed. “Listen, just stay away from me and we won't have too many problems, okay?” Loki nodded in agreement. 

“I won’t bother you, Stark.”

\----

Over the next few weeks, Peter took Loki up on his offer about the library. He read book after book on far away worlds, knowledge he’d only dreamed of. In return, he spent hours talking and showing Loki his power. Even though he’d been around for a fair amount of time, Peter didn’t actually know the full extent of his powers. He had always been scared that something would go wrong, that he’d accidentally hurt someone. He knew the many strength runes on his skin did something, as he always had them turned off in case he forgot to use restraint. Infact, most of his many runes were often deactivated, so that he didn’t have to worry. 

“I can tell that you are powerful just by being near you, but I can’t tell exactly what you are capable of.” Loki was saying. They were sitting in Peter’s kitchen, a plate of sugar cookies next to them. Peter shrugged. 

“Honestly? I don’t actually know. I’ve been hesitant to push myself much farther, I don’t want to do something bad by accident.” He looks down at his hands. “Even just my strength runes are more powerful than I really want, but I’ve kept them just in case.” The kitchen was silent for a moment, the two lost in their thoughts. Loki sighed. 

“I won’t ask then, let’s stick with things you do know.”

\----

As much as Peter liked to be a mystery, it was getting annoying. He had to be careful, he couldn’t spar with the team, he couldn’t talk about his past, he tried not to act too smart, it was tiring. All he wanted to do was be himself.

“I’m just saying, Wade, Bucky still likes me, Loki doesn’t care, why would the rest of them?” Peter sat upside down on the couch, feet draped over the back, staring at Wade in the kitchen. 

He still wasn’t quite sure that telling the Avengers that you were a super powerful two hundred year old mage was a good idea. “I worry, baby boy! It’s not that I don’t trust that you can deal with it, it’s just that it’s only been 5 and a half years so far, we still need almost 3 years before we can go back, I don’t want to risk you losing those years with them, you seem so happy.” 

Peter sighed. “I will always be happy since you’re with me, Wade. And it just takes so much effort to not do any magic around them.” To demonstrate he pulled Wade over to him with his magic, trapping him in his arms. “Not using my magic is the worst.” While Wade wanted Peter to be safe, he also wanted his husband to feel comfortable with his friends, and if telling them at least part of his story helped, he was okay with it. 

“I guess it would be okay, you’re apparently one of the most powerful people, like, ever, so that’s gotta count for something.” Peter grinned. 

“How should I do it?”

\----

Natasha was confused. She walked into the kitchen at around noon, fully expecting Peter and Bucky to already be there, likely making a huge mess as usual. She often joined in, the three were an unstoppable force together. Instead, there was just a plate full of cupcakes with ‘Eat Me!’ written in different languages on them. She was almost scared to take one, but she could tell Peter and Bucky had made them. So, she gave in, and took one.

She held it for a moment, then took a small bite from one side. At first, nothing happened, but then, the writing shimmered, and changed to say ‘Look down’. As if the changing letters weren’t weird enough, when she looked down, a swirling mix of greys, silvers, and blacks appeared on the floor, like a portal. Immediately, she fell in, and she closed her eyes while bracing herself for a landing. However, when she did land, it was not onto the floor. Water surrounded her, and she spluttered as she swam to the surface. She had ended up in the training room pool, and as she looked around, she saw Peter and Bucky by the edge, trying to contain their laughter.

“You should have seen your face!” Bucky laughed when she began glaring at them. 

Natasha swam over to where he was standing and jumped out of the pool. “That was mean.” She said, straight faced. Bucky tried not to look laugh, but it wasn’t quite working, he knew Natasha too well to be scared of her. She let a smile creep onto her face, and grabbed Bucky’s arm, pulling him into a hug. 

“Nat! You’re soaking wet, stop it!” Bucky yelped, and with a short laugh, Natasha twisted, and dived back into the pool, still holding Bucky. 

Peter was laughing like a maniac when the two resurfaced, Bucky pouting and Natasha grinning. “I think you need to join us, Parker.” She joked, and Peter backed up. 

“I’m good from up here, thank you very much.” He put his hand out as if to shield him, while the two wet assassins climbed out of the pool towards him. “I said ‘I’m good’, not ‘come over here and kill me’.” He tried again, but instead of stop, Bucky lunged for him. Peter squealed as a wet body wrapped around and picked him up. “Nat don’t stand there! Help me!” Peter laughed, Bucky dragging him closer to the pool. 

“You started this.” She shrugged. It was true, he had, so Peter just groaned and struggled in Bucky’s arms. 

“I know you can escape, Pete, you don’t even need her help.” Bucky pointed out. 

Peter thought for a second. “I mean yeah, but that’s no fun.”

Natasha was confused by this, and her confusion brought her back to how this all started. “Wait, how did I even actually get here? There were cupcakes, and then a portal…?” She trailed off, and Bucky and Peter froze. “What am I missing here?” She asked, and the two looked at each other and smiled sheepishly. 

“Well, the whole point of this was to tell you that I’m not actually an inhuman.” Peter started, and looked to gauge her reaction. Natasha’s face was blank, with some confusion still in her eyes. “I’m a mage, I can do actual magic.”

\----

One by one, the Avengers learned of Peter’s magic. After Natasha came Tony, who learned of it when Peter kept moving his tools around his workspace as he floated, invisible, over his head. It took about an hour before the sleepy inventor knew it wasn’t just his sleep addled mind messing with him.

Next was Clint, who found out as Peter made him miss the target during his archery practice by moving his arrows around. 

Then Wanda, when Peter mimicked her abilities, red mist and all, and confused the hell out of her.

After that was Bruce, which involved a large cake, teleportation, and one too many sparklers.

Steve was last, for obvious reasons. The two were on god terms, but it was obvious that Steve still didn’t trust Peter. So, instead of prank him and tell him a bit about his magic, Peter decided that the best thing to do with Steve was just tell him.

“Hey, are you doing anything right now? I want to talk to you.” Peter asked when Steve walked into the common room one Thursday. Steve looked skeptical of the question, but shook his head. 

“What did you want to say?” He questioned, and Peter bit his lip. He glanced around the room, making sure no one was there. 

“I know you don’t trust me, I just want to know why.” The super soldier blinked, taken aback. He didn’t expect the answer, and it was clear from the other man's face that it was sincere. He shrugged. 

“I guess I feel like you’re hiding something, and I can’t trust people when they don’t trust me.” 

Peter thought about this, and then nodded. “That makes sense.” He paused, then smiled. “How about I tell you what I’m hiding, then?”

Steve was intrigued by this, Peter was admitting he was hiding something from the others, and immediately assumed the worst. “Okay.” He said, and followed Peter as he walked toward the couch to sit down. 

“Well, I’ve been telling everyone separately, and I’m only telling you last because I didn’t know how to do it.” Peter shook his head. “I’ve just been pranking them, but somehow that didn’t seem right for you.” Steve was glad that he was just getting a talk rather than a prank, he didn’t know how he would have responded to that. “Anyway, I’m not actually inhuman, I just pretended to be so that it wouldn’t be questioned what I did to save you.” Steve’s mind was racing. Not an inhuman? Then what was he? “I’m a mage, I have actual magic.” Peter stopped to gauge Steve’s expression. He could tell that the other man was confused, so he went on. “I figured out I had magic a long time ago, and since then, have been practicing it as much as possible. I even figured out time travel a bit, so I’ve been ‘looping time’, as I call it, and repeating 4 or 8 years for a long time.” 

The room was silent, Steve not knowing what to say and Peter scared to go on. But, he did anyway. “Now for the part I didn’t tell the others.” Peter started, his voice growing a bit thin, like he didn’t want to be talking about the topic. 

Steve put his hand up before he could start talking again. “I don’t need to know.” He said, and Peter gave him a look of relief and confusion. A small smile made its way to Steve’s face. “It looks like you don’t want to talk about it, and just telling me about your,” He paused, and shook his head slightly, “Magic.” He chuckled under his breath. “All I want to know is why you’re here, and what you can do.” Peter nodded, smiling, too.

“I wasn’t originally going to do this, I had the bake shop with Wade, you know the one, but then Daisy offered me a job here and it was a once in a lifetime opportunity, I couldn’t turn it down. Then I got attached to you guys, I didn’t want you all to forget me yet.” Peter sniffed a bit, remembering all of the people he had lost to time. He wiped his nose slightly and cleared his throat. “And as for what I can do, it’s a lot. I’ve been training for almost 200 years, with the help of as many other people as I can. I haven’t tested the real limits to my power, I’ve been scared to accidentally hurt someone, that’s why I turned off most of my runes.” At Steve’s confused look, he explained. “Over the years, I’ve gotten a bunch of runes tattooed, along with others, but some, like my strength rune, I keep deactivated because I don’t know the true strength of it yet, and I don’t want to hurt someone.”

The more Steve talked to Peter, the more obvious it was that he really didn’t want to cause any harm to people. A person this powerful should be exploiting their power, testing their limits, but here was this kid, who was apparently super powerful, but didn’t want to do anything crazy in fear of hurting someone. 

“All I want is to learn, and not only am I learning from you guys, but Loki is also helping me by giving me books from Asgard’s library. If you want me to leave, I will, but this is the most fun I’ve had in almost 100 years.” Peter said, and Steve sighed. Even if he didn’t really like the mage, he also didn’t really know him, as he had been wary of him from the moment they met. 

“You can stay.”

\----

Peter was content.

Right now, he had a wonderful husband, great friends, and access to a library of knowledge about the practically everything in the universe.

He wouldn't change it for the world.


End file.
